


The Truth You Can't Hide (Your Love Could Start A War)

by RogueTiger



Series: Supercorp [1]
Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Canon to end of season 3, Canon-Typical Violence, F/F, No Lames
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-08
Updated: 2019-01-05
Packaged: 2019-07-08 12:57:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 22
Words: 99,921
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15930905
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RogueTiger/pseuds/RogueTiger
Summary: Set several months after the end of season three.Canon compliant apart from Lames (Lena and James) not being a thing because Lames is the worst idea in the history of bad ideas.After Lillian Luthor reveals to Lena that Kara Danvers and Supergirl are one and the same, Lena struggles to come to terms with Kara’s betrayal and vanishes from National City.Several months later, Lena returns with new and old friends on her side, and rumours and accusations of her anti-alien opinions and the death of a reporter following her from Gotham City, as a new player is moving in to National City.Benjamin Lockwood, ex CIA, founder of the human’s first, anti-alien group, Children of Liberty. Dedicated family man with a hatred of all things alien.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> The first part of the title of this story comes from the song, Pynk by Janelle Monáe and all because of the original idea that spawned this story... which was "what if one day Kara saw Lena wearing jewelry with a pink stone setting and just assumed that it was pink K and just decided to let all the gay out?" The second part in brackets is another song title that just seems to fit where Lena and Kara are currently.
> 
> That is kind of still going to be a part of this but the story had grown beyond the smut in my head... damn it! I was enjoying the smut too!
> 
> Please note, most of my limited knowledge when it comes to the Supergirl fandom comes from fan fiction so I will not be going into too much Krytonian lore. Also my characters might stray out and be OOC compared to the show but I always try to keep them in character for the story.
> 
> Other characters will appear (Maggie, Alex) but I don't know to what extent yet so they are not tagged. And I also don't know yet how graphic any violence or sex will get so I can't really give it a rating yet but I would say 'Mature'.
> 
> I think that's all... apart from a warning that I have no update schedule, my stories come when the muses strike and i've got 4 or 5 WIP's on the go so the muses are pushing and shoving o.O

Lena Luthor sighed in quiet exasperation and leaned back in her expensive but not entirely comfortable, ergonomically designed office chair. With a blunt but elegantly manicured nail, she tapped at the edge of her white laptop, her brightly painted lips compressing into a thin line as a flash of red and blue reflected in the screen she had been trying to focus upon and also in the shiny all-white furniture that decorated her L-Corp office.

Lena usually loved the clean aesthetic of her mostly white office at the top of the building. Personally she found it calming even as she knew that it had the opposite effect and intimidated many visitors almost as much as her last name did, and it shocked the rest as apparently, no matter how many good deeds had her name attached to them it was never enough to counteract the evil done by her brother, Lex or her step-mother, Lillian. She saw it in their eyes as they stepped through the double doors of her expensively furnished but not massively huge office that they expecting to see an evil genius volcano lair or a mad scientist lab to be waiting for them.

Really, it was quite pathetic and very aggravating to the point that Lena had been more than tempted to don a bald cap or just shave her dark hair off and dress up like Lex for Halloween but Sam had talked her down by pointing out that L-Corp really didn’t need the bad press from all the weak hearted business leaches having heart attacks and toppling over on L-Corp property.

Sam wasn’t there to act as her friend or CFO of L-Corp and curtail her actions any more though. Purged of Reign she had left National City with her daughter and had effectively gone radio silent when it came to anyone to do with her brief life in National City.

Or maybe, Lena thought, the silence was still just for her for while Sam no longer answered her calls or texts she knew before Alex had cut her off too that Sam and Alex had talked regularly and, for all she knew, they still did.

Lena knew that Reign had been their enemy, one that knew how to use the power of words even more accurately as her fists. But, as stinging as her verbal barbs had been, the ones that had hurt the worst were the ones that had come out of Sam’s mouth when she had accused her of just being another Luthor.

Lena had heard the accusation in so many forms during her life. Her mother used it to remind her that she wasn’t one and would never be worthy of it. The press when they speculated on what evil she was up to and when she would reveal her true colours.

And then there was the worst one of all from Supergirl. The red and blue clad bane of her office life right then who, despite everything they had been through, despite the friendship Lena had thought they had, had leapt straight to the conclusion that she was plotting against her rather than waiting for an explanation as to why she had been using Kryptonite and then had had the _audacity_ to ask James, who Lena had been finally building something close to a friendship or at least a working relationship built on trust with at the time, to spy on her because she didn’t trust her.

Lena closed her laptop with a sharp click as she saw Supergirl’s reflection moving closer until it filled the screen. She kept her back to the window, refusing to turn even as she heard the familiar rustle and flap of Supergirl’s cape and the soft thud of boots as she alighted upon the balcony behind her.

She ached for the days when she would have turned, her heart and stomach fluttering with nervous excitement at the sight of National City’s resident superhero standing there with her hands on her hips in a typical heroic pose with her blonde hair blowing in the breeze that was prevalent so high up.

Lena had never understood her brother’s strange obsession with the Kryptonian’s and their superpowers. Until she had come into contact with Supergirl and had felt and seen the almost godlike powers she wielded with benevolent grace for herself as she had saved her and countless others time and again. Even more impressive was the simple charm of the woman, the godlet with the soft but powerful voice, a ready smile, blonde hair and brilliant blue eyes that made everyone, even Lena want to do better and be worthy of her.

Falling out of grace with Supergirl was a lonely and terrifying thing to endure but Lena had ended up there sure enough by trying to find a cure for Sam by creating Kryptonite as a way to control Reign. And in the process she had lost everyone; Sam and her daughter, Ruby; James who once more looked at her with disdain; Supergirl, and by association; Alex and her ex-fiancé, Maggie, and Winn. Though, in all fairness, Maggie she had lost after she had broken up with Alex and left the country, and Winn because he had travelled to the future but she knew they would have sided with the others and abandoned her anyway.

All Lena had left after two years in National City was Kara, the one friend she’d had from the very start.

Until she had found out the lie in that.

In a moment of weakness, or maybe needing to punish herself more by doing it when she knew miss goody-two-shoes was keeping an eye on her every move from above, Lena had decided to visit Lillian in prison. A visit that had gone as well as ever seeing as Lena had, once more, been the reason they had managed to capture her after Lillian had done probably as close to a loving, motherly, deed as she could and had tried to kill Morgan Edge. And then Lillian had dropped a final bombshell on her visit by telling her that her one true friend that she could count on for everything and the alien that had turned on her faster than a striking rattlesnake, were one and the same.

Kara Danvers was Supergirl?

Supergirl was Kara Danvers!?

Lena’s mind had chased itself in circles but she had impressed herself with her acting ability as she had schooled her face and laughed, telling Lillian she had known all along before marching out and climbing into the back of her waiting car. Everything was a blur after that though until she had found herself gazing into Kara’s smiling eyes and accepting her invitation into her apartment.

Looking at her it was so damn obvious; the small scar, the crinkle that appeared between her brows, the blue eyes. Not to mention the verbal slips like ‘flying on a bus’. Really, it was ludicrous that she had let a pair of glasses and a ponytail fool her and the more she thought about it the more her head filled will an all-consuming white noise that had blocked out Kara’s voice and made Lena start and jerk back as her ‘friend’ touched her arm in concern.

Lena knew! But she needed to see for herself just how stupid she had been. Taking Kara by surprise, as if that was even possible for someone that could move as fast as she could, Lena had reached up and removed the glasses that Kara kept fidgeting with. The air had seemed to leave Kara, an air of resignation passing across her brilliant blue eyes as she had reached up herself to let her hair down from its ponytail and straightened up, her body seeming to grow as she let go of all her mild-mannered mannerisms and stood tall and heroic.

Lena felt her world crumbling, everything she’d thought she’d known and trusted falling to dust around her as every softly spoken promise to always be there for her, to always be her friend, to always believe in her, clashed with the accusations spoken from the same mouth.

She should have left then but apparently needing to destroy herself further, Lena grasped the edges of Kara’s shirt and ripped it open to reveal the suit beneath and the house of El symbol upon her chest.

She shouldn’t have gone to visit Lillian. She shouldn’t have gone to Kara’s apartment. And she most definitely shouldn’t have slapped her right across the face.

As a move, it was beneath her and really not very smart at all as Supergirl wasn’t called the girl of steel for nothing.

The slap rang out sharply but Kara had stood there impassively, probably not even capable of feeling the blow that had badly sprained Lena’s wrist and broken two of her fingers.

Lena had stormed out, holding on to the tattered remains of her dignity and her broken hand and hadn’t spoken to Kara or returned any of her texts since. In fact, the only contact she had remotely had with Kara or the life she had been building around her, had come in the form of her typically stoic and intimidating sister turning up with menace in her eyes and a non-disclosure agreement loosely disguised as a mountain of paper.

Supergirl not trusting her had been one thing, almost expected even though it had still hurt. But with everything that had happened between Superman and Lex, with Lillian and Cadmus targeting aliens and Supers, even with her own less than forthcoming nature when dealing with threats, Lena had spent every moment since she had taken up residence in National City just waiting for the accusations to start especially when she had realised just what was wrong with Sam.

But what could she have done? Sam had come to her for help and from what she knew of the secretive agency that Supergirl worked with, aliens that caused problems disappeared just as fast and as completely as the ones that Cadmus took and as far as she knew their fate was just as sealed. There was no way she was willing to risk Sam being dissected when she was sure she could help.

Once her lab was found, once it came out what she had created, the accusations had fallen around her just as she had known they would and she had been dragged into the DEO and forced to defend herself under questioning from Supergirl, Alex, their boss, J’onn and, strangely, Kara’s alien ex who Kara had never mentioned being back on Earth and the rest of the Legion of Super-Heroes. Even under the weight of their bitter accusations, Lena couldn’t help thinking that somewhere in Washington, Cat Grant was gritting her teeth at the sheer lameness of their moniker and lamenting that she hadn’t had the chance to name them how she had Supergirl.

Lena had held up, even defended herself quite admirably, she thought, and even managed to get in a few barbed jibes that she’d hoped had stung almost as much as the stick Alex had poked her with when they had been in the Valley of Juru trying to find Sam so they could locate where the Worldkillers were hiding.

She shivered at the memory of how Juru had felt. They had gone in with a tentative understanding between them, united in their desire to help Sam. But as soon as the bright white walls of the Legion’s ship had been replaced with the dark forbidding landscape, Lena had felt the darkness scratching away at her, twisting and niggling at her thoughts until it had taken everything within her not to curl up in a ball but she had held fiercely on to the need to get Sam away from the soul-crushing influence of the place despite the increasingly strange behaviour of her companions.

Really, she should have seen it then. The way they had acted and united against her had been how siblings acted, well how she vaguely remembered siblings acting before Lex had lost his mind and now tried to have her assassinated almost every other week.

They had started bickering between each other and then united and rounded on her, aggressively bringing up things that should have been left behind while they were looking for Sam. It had made Lena bristle and fight back, bringing up how damn hypocritical it was for Supergirl to accuse her of secrets when she had the biggest ones… her identity.

Lena had never wanted to know hers though. That was the first thing that Lex had become fixated on when Superman had appeared in the skies and Lena feared that if she became consumed by that she would follow Lex’s path into self-destruction and madness.

No, she had never wanted to know. And now she did she knew she had been better off not knowing. She didn’t fear for her life any more for knowing, really, there were only so many attempts on her life the bad guys could fit into a day and she wondered if there was a secret part of the deep web set up with a calendar for the assassins so they didn’t overbook them.

They could try. And one day they would no doubt succeed, but when they did they would find that Supergirl, that Kara, had already destroyed her.

Accusations from Supergirl had been expected but Kara had always backed her. To find that Kara and Supergirl were one and the same, that the accusations falling from Supergirl’s mouth were really from the woman that stopped by for impromptu lunches just to make sure she took a break, the woman that had held her in her darkest times, wiped away her tears and assured her she would always be there, that she would always protect her.

She’d promised!

And then the moment she had done something Supergirl didn’t like, she had turned on her.

Yes, Lena knew that Kryptonite was bad for Supergirl, that it could kill her. But, as Lena had pointed out herself, there were an almost endless amount of things that could kill her… hell, she had been poisoned with cyanide only weeks before and had felt pretty much the same sensations that Kara had described the effects of Kryptonite being like.

Supergirl had taken her making it like a personal attack… Something only an evil Luthor would do… Kara should have known better.

With a resigned sigh, Lena smoothly pushed her chair back from her desk and rose to her feet. With fingers that trembled with what she tried to convince herself was rage, Lena smoothed down an imaginary wrinkle in her figure-hugging pencil skirt before turning smartly on her heel to face Supergirl who was fiddling with the edge of her cape in a move that was pure Kara Danvers.

The sight infuriated Lena more. As did the hopeful smile that lifted the corners of the hero’s mouth and her own heart.

The smile dimmed to be replaced by the crinkle of confusion between her brows as Lena picked up her iPad from the desk. Lena was sure that Supergirl was remembering the last time she had used one and that was good as Lena hated to waste a dramatic moment.

“Lena—“

With a simple press of her finger to the surface of her tablet, Lena cut herself off from sight using the same refractive scatter-field technology that had helped to contain Reign. Unfortunately, she could still see Supergirl clearly and heard her gasp, but the only ways to block her from sight meant leaving herself in physical darkness and not just the mental one she had been cast into and that was just one more step closer to shaving her head and turning into Lex 2.0.

Lena watched as Supergirl’s shoulders slumped, a look of anguish crossing her face that had Lena taking a step closer to the barrier in an instinctive need to remove the pain. She had thought, maybe even hoped, that she would feel that way, that she would know even a hint of what it had been like to lose everything... But there was no joy in it.

Her hand lifted, fingers hovering just beyond the edge of the barrier. Close enough to feel the pinpricks of its power against her skin but not close enough to disrupt it. The other side of it, Supergirl mirrored her move so perfectly that Lena wondered if she was somehow able to see her but there was no flair of hope in her eyes, as her mouth formed her name in a whisper so soft and quiet that no sound reached Lena’s ears.

Pride held Lena in place and prevented her from reaching out to turn the barrier off even as Supergirl stepped back and rose gracefully from the balcony. Even after she had flown away, her red and blue-clad body moving so fast across the skies that she left an afterimage of colour across Lena’s avid gaze, she held her ground and kept the barrier in place to hide the tears streaming down her cheeks from the view of any passing godlet.

She needed time.

She needed a plan.

Wiping her face clear, Lena summoned every ounce of control and self-respect she had left, wrapping herself up in a hastily erected barrier as she reached for the button of the old intercom system on her desk rather. She clenched her fist, willing away the tremble running through her hand. She didn’t need emotion, didn’t want to feel. She needed icy control.

“Jess.”

“Yes, Ms Luthor?”

Lena could hear the confusion in her assistance voice at her using the intercom instead of just calling for her. There was a reason for it though. The intercom was old, a relic of a bygone age that was one step up from smoke signals or using two tin cans and a piece of string technology wise. It was also ridiculously easy to bug. Which was what some overeager beaver from the DEO had apparently done after her ‘falling out’ with Supergirl. The bugs had been found on one of the routine sweeps of the office… usually, they were just twice daily but after ‘suspicious’ visitors it had become something they just did. The fact that they had bugged the ancient device, something they had been messing with after Jess had found it locked in a little-used storage closet, had been ridiculous and frankly insulting but in a moment of petty delight, Lena had decided to keep it around just to mess with the DEO… sending strange messages to Jess or the empty office on the rare occasions when she could persuade her loyal assistant to actually go home.

“Cancel all my meetings for the foreseeable future and reschedule them with relevant departments.”

“Right away, Ms Luthor.”

There was a pause and Lena could feel Jess deciding if she should press beyond the remit of her job and sense the eager ears of whoever was listening at the DEO leaning in closer.

“Is everything okay, Ms Luthor?”

“Everything is fine, Jess. Oh, before you get busy clearing my schedule, would you mind contacting my driver to pick me up in ten minutes and tell my pilot to be ready to be wheels up within the hour? I’m leaving.”


	2. Chapter 2

High above the top of the tallest tower in National City, far out of reach of any aircraft, Kara floated. Her eyes were closed, her body still and outwardly calm despite the turmoil within. The thick material of her cape, the last remnants of her home planet, whipped around her body, cracking like a sail in the stiff wind that whipped the white clouds that lay above and below her across the sky.

She had been thirteen when her parents had bundled her into a pod to escape their dying planet and tasked her with the job of taking care of her baby cousin, Kal-El.

Thirteen years old and she had seen her planet and everyone still upon it ripped apart when she should have been playing with her friends, moaning but secretly loving all the hugs her parents had to give her, and proving her worth in the science guild.

Instead, trapped within the confines of the small pod she had been forced to bear witness to the loss of everything with only the task her parents had given her to keep her focused on the future.

And then her pod had been struck and tossed into the phantom zone. A hellish place where things moved but time didn’t pass. For twenty years Kara was stuck in the tiny pod, alone with her thoughts, never ageing, until her pod had once again been cast aside and thrown out of the phantom zone and set back on its course for Earth.

The first person to greet her had been Kal. Very much grown and settled upon his adopted home and his life as a hero while Kara still looked as she had when they had left.

Through no fault of her own, Kara had failed to do as her parents had wanted but at least she still had a link to her planet in him.

Only Kal hadn’t wanted her and had entrusted her into the care of the Danvers family and flown away.

They had been kind enough, especially Eliza and Jeremiah. On the other hand, their daughter, Alex, had been difficult to get close too and had not always been as welcoming over having to share her home and family with an alien that struggled to fit in… There were no sleepovers allowed when your ‘sister’ tended to float in her sleep. And Kara hadn’t always made it easy as she struggled to navigate life as a teenager with powers on Earth.

With the powers given to her by the sun, Earth had been overwhelming from the moment her pod had landed upon the planet and it had been a struggle to learn how to control all her senses from the changes the sun’s rays had wrought upon her. Sometimes to escape all that she flew high to reset. Lately, though, she had been doing it because the one thing she wanted to hear in the city below wasn’t there.

Lena.

Kara had not realised how much she had come to use the beat of Lena’s heart to reassure herself until it had simply vanished so abruptly the same day that she had blocked her on the balcony, that she had feared that Lena was dead until Jess, Lena’s assistant had finally relented and told her that Lena had left the country and she didn’t know when she would return or even if she would.

The last was thrown at her with such a look of accusation that Kara had been left wondering just how much she knew but apart from that look, Jess had said nothing more other than to show Kara the door in a way that said she was seconds away from calling security.

Months had passed since then and Lena remained missing from National City, from anywhere and Kara missed her so much.

She missed the warmth of her smiles and the way her body fit against hers when they hugged. She loved that she didn’t threaten to eviscerate her when she stole food off her plate like Alex did. She missed their movie nights and the way the usually tightly wound and prim woman looked in the ‘normal’ clothes Kara insisted she borrowed off her to wear so that Kara didn’t have to worry about putting a permanent wrinkle or stain in something that cost more than a month’s wage when they shared a blanket and a pizza or five on the couch.

Lena was a Luthor. A name that inspired fear and loathing in many people, even her cousin. Lena was the best of them and had always been more than her name but everyone just saw the name and judged her on that and not her deeds.

Kara had never thought she would be one of those people. From the moment she had first seen Lena in her office, the sun at her back as she had earnestly begged for Kal and herself to believe that she wanted to do good and get out from under the family name, Kara had wanted to believe her… She _had_ believed her. Even when there was damning evidence against Lena, Kara had held fast in that belief… Until _that_ day.

Kara sighed deeply, regretfully.

Kryptonite. It always seemed to come down to Kryptonite when it came to their families. That time though Lena was the one using it and Kara had allowed her fear of the deadly substance to overrule every part of her that believed in the good in Lena and she had lashed out with words.

That might have been understood and forgiven… but it had all snowballed out of control in a way that seemed impossible with the closeness and trust they shared. Finally, it had all accumulated in the reveal of the secret she had been holding back, her identity. In the Valley of Juru, Lena had demanded to know what her name was and then brushed it aside because it was her secret to tell. And it probably wouldn’t have mattered to Lena if it wasn’t for the tiny fact that Kara was Supergirl and Kara had always promised to have her back and never leave her.

The betrayal in Lena’s eyes before she had stormed out of her had been worse than having a Kryptonite blade plunged into her heart. She had wanted to fly to Lena and beg forgiveness but as usual, a crisis had dropped on them and by the time that was dealt with Alex had forced Lena to sign non-disclosure forms and Lena was entrenched within the walls of her tower refusing to speak to her as Kara or Supergirl.

And then she had left.

As a Luthor, her presence attracted the kind of attention that had newspapers worldwide falling over themselves in a way most celebrities could only dream of but she was managing to avoid it all.

“… Supergirl…”

Kara sighed at the interruption and that the melancholy feeling it still gave her that the voice wasn’t Winn’s. Not that Brainy wasn’t nice because he was if a little strange at times. He just wasn’t Winn though. “Yes, Brainy?”

“Ahh, there you are, Supergirl.”

“What’s wrong?”

“Reports of a situation at the First National Bank. Banks, such an antiquated system for dealing with credit…”

“What kind of a situation, Brainy?” Kara cut him off before he could launch into one of his well-meaning but usually unintentionally insulting stories about history; which, for everyone else was their present or future as Brainy was a time travelling superhero from the 31st century.

“Oh, okay. Business it is. An unknown number of hostages and possible alien tech. The local authorities are at the scene but they have been ineffective.”

“On my way!”

Jaw tensing, Kara quickly plotted out the fastest possible route to the bank in her mind and shot off in the right direction, making sure to stay at a speed that was fast but not so fast that her body cutting through the air would create a sound. As every route seemed to want to though, it took her right past the tallest building in National City, L-Corp. And as always, she couldn’t resist the urge to glance inside the top floor window where Lena’s office and cast her ears in the same direction.

Kara’s heart leapt at the sight of a figure within the office but before the hope could take flight that Lena had returned, she realised that while the woman had straight, dark hair, it was all too obvious by her bearing that it wasn’t Lena… it was just her assistant, Jess.

“… it is so good to hear from you again Ms Westenra… Lucy…”

Kara frowned slightly as she unintentionally… mostly… listened in on Jess’ side of the conversation she was having on Lena’s office phone. Westenra? She had never met a Westenra, Kara was certain of it, but the name still sounded familiar and Jess’ voice was too friendly as she talked to the woman on the other end of the call.

It was probably just a personal call but she would never have taken Jess as the kind to take advantage of office resources even with Lena gone.

“… any word on when we might get to see you again?”

Kara kept flying, tuning out the sound of Jess’ voice as she locked in on the sounds of sirens and gunfire in the streets below.

Hovering out of sight, Kara did a quick x-ray scan of the building, checking where everyone was before swooping into action, stripping the gunman at the door of his alien weapon and tossing him to the police in one seamless move before bursting inside at full super speed to deal with the rest before they could even register that their friend outside wasn’t firing on the police any more.

Kara waited only long enough to see the unmarked vehicles of the DEO pulling up before taking to the air once more before her sister could catch her eye and give her the lecture she was sure was coming about being in range so they could contact her.

Although she could avoid a face to face talk then though, there was no avoiding one by coms as was quickly proved by Alex’s voice in her ear even before Kara had made it past the L-Corp building.

“We’ll talk about this later, Supergirl.”

“I know, Director Danvers. Bring potstickers and ice-cream with you though. Until then, I’ clocking off for the day, if anyone needs me I’m sure I’ll hear them.”

Alex sighed as the coms went dead signalling that her sister had switched the thing off. Raking a hand through her short red hair, she looked around, making certain that all the alien weapons were ending up in DEO hands as well as checking out the crowd that had flocked to the scene.

There was nothing unusual in that in itself. Human nature seemed to draw people to the areas of danger and chaos armed with cell phones raised to record everything to post on social media. And it was in her nature to check them out to make sure there was nothing unusual in their actions; the slightest hint that someone was more than they seemed.

Just like the figure in all black with no identifying marks even on the snapback pulled down low over their eyes. Alex’s highly honed senses kicked into overdrive, raising every hair on her body. The person was standing perfectly still with an almost military bearing but with no cell phone raised they were part of the crowd but separate from it.

From beneath the shade of the snapback, Alex caught a gleam of eyes looking right at her and a wide smile that was all predator and in no way friendly. Before she could take more than a step towards them, the person, female she thought even though there was no way to say for sure, stepped back and spun on their heel to reveal a flash of hair redder than her own pulled back in a tight ponytail before they vanished into the crowd.

Alex took up the chase, speeding towards the crowd and weaving through them. She should have been no more than a matter of seconds behind them but there was no one in sight once she cleared the crowd.

No one in black.

No one fleeing at speed.

Alex looked around and up and down too just in case but the only thing that caught her eye was two figures in biker gear, their faces hidden by the helmets they wore, embracing warmly before climbing onto a rather sweet ride and pulling off into traffic at a reasonable speed.

“I thought the idea was to keep a low profile, Kane?”

“And miss the chance to see a Super in action?” Kate chuckled, hearing the slight distortion that let her know that the scramblers were working on the coms built into their helmets. “Your ex is a feisty one, Sawyer. Did not expect her to make me like that.”

Maggie rolled her eyes at her companion. Seriously, the only way Kate could have stood out more would have been to swing in wearing her Batwoman outfit and break out into a song and dance routine.

“Is our asset in place?”

“All being well Westenra should be in place in the next day or two. Until then, please, try to avoid drawing attention to yourself.”

“You know me, Sawyer.”

“Yeah, I do… Don’t do anything stupid ‘cause Alex is anything but and neither is she!” Maggie gestured upwards to where Supergirl was streaking through the sky above them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OMG, trying to write a reason for Kara to have acted how she did in canon is TORTURE as frankly it makes no sense with how they were together in season 2. Seriously, where was the unwavering trust she had even when everyone was against Lena and all the evidence pointed to her taking kryptonite? UGH! And unless Lena gave them kryptonite bullets in that case maybe she should have been having words with Alex as she shot the Kryptonian witches with bullets made from it -_-
> 
> Okay, calm now... adding a few familiar faces to the story (and tags) but for the most part they will remain background characters. Virtual cookies to anyone that recognizes the reference of Lucy Westenra ;)


	3. Chapter 3

Awake before the sun could push back the night, Lena stared out of the window of her new penthouse apartment in an exclusive area of National City far from the hotel she had inhabited for over a year when she had moved there to take over as CEO of L-Corp. She had been as reluctant to move back there as the hotel would have been to risk another big bad like Reign stopping by again. If anyone came to mess with her this time, the whole apartment block was empty apart from herself and security, and the building belonged to her… under the guise of a shell company.

From where she was, Lena could see the imposing buildings of the main business area rising up into the sky, the gleaming facades of L-Corp and CatCo gleaming in the rising sun, standing higher than any of the others around them.

National City wasn’t perfect but it shone like a beacon of hope after the months she had spent in Gotham City. Gotham had its charm if you wanted to lose yourself as she had. But one wrong turn down a street or lingering too long after dark quickly revealed the ugly side of the city and its inhabitants that made it all too clear why they needed protectors like Batman that inspired fear rather than the hope that Supergirl and Superman offered in National City and Metropolis.

One thing that could be said for Gotham though, it made no pretence about its intentions. It didn’t offer friendship and hope and then stomp on your heart.

“Damn it Luthor, you better make the best damn coffee in the world to be up so early clattering around.”

Lena arched an eyebrow at Kate as she shuffled into the open-plan living area and threw herself inelegantly over the arm of the couch to land in a dramatic face plant amongst the cushions.

“Firstly, coffee so early in the morning is bad for you so you can bet your ass that I make it very well. And secondly, why are you here?”

“Well, there’s gratitude! Mags and I slaved _all_ night to make sure your place is bug-free.”

“And you couldn’t do that on the three other nights you were crashed here watching TV and ordering takeout?” Waggling her phone under Kate’s nose as she handed her a cup of coffee, she showed her the photos the security system had sent her of all the food deliveries all nicely time stamped.

“Told ya we wouldn’t get away with it, dummy.” Chuckling softly, Maggie poured herself a drink and raised it in a quiet salute to Lena. “Trip go okay, Lee?” she asked softly.

Lena could see the questions Maggie wasn’t asking written on her face. Kate had it easy, she had no emotional ties to National City whereas both herself and Maggie had lost their hearts to the Danvers sisters and had them crushed.

Returning was… painful as every sight and sound ripped open wounds that left her feeling vulnerable.

“The journey was fine.”

Kate shared a look with Maggie and they saw Lena’s formidable defences, probably the only thing that had kept her sane and probably alive in the Luthor household. It was, typically of Lena, elegant and restrained how she straightened up and wrapped her arms around her waist to confine her movements as she schooled her face so completely that it could have been carved from marble.

It was a look that had no doubt served her well growing up as well as in the boardroom while dealing with misogynist bullshit… and it was heart-breaking after getting to see the wicked humour and brilliant smile that came out along with her natural, softly lilting, Irish accent when she was comfortable.

“What’s the latest on Lockwood?”

“Surveillance still has him on course to National City. And your _actions_ have certainly got him intrigued.”

“I had to schmooze with the underbelly of Gotham, he better be more than intrigued.”

“Aww, come on, Lee, Harley Quinn and Ivy aren’t that bad,” Kate chuckled.

“Not that…!” Lena fixed the other woman with a glower that in no way worked to stop her laughter. “She got too friendly with her vines and had a domestic with Harley over it!” Which was a very mild way of describing the riot they had started that had ended in a heavy make-out session in the middle of it that Lena had wanted to scrub from her mind as Catwoman, of all people, had come to her rescue.

Thankfully, Catwoman was mostly working on the side of good those days and her payment for ‘rescue’ had been a kiss and one of Lena’s favourite necklaces.

Between that rather eventful night and her carefully slipped disgruntled words about the meddling of Supers and aliens in general, Lena hoped that it had been enough to get Benjamin Lockwood to take the bait.

“What’s the agenda today?”

“Well—”

“Hold it! Incoming!” Darting to the window, Maggie quickly hit the button to close the blinds as she saw the familiar shape of Supergirl sweeping across the city. It still made her heart ache to see her, knowing that somewhere out there, probably whispering in Kara’s ear, was Alex.

Her eyes widened as Supergirl suddenly froze in mid-flight, her body coming to a complete halt and moving into an upright position, her cape whipping around her body as she looked around.

It could be nothing, maybe a shout for help somewhere below. But it had Maggie’s finely honed senses going on full alert as even with the distance between them, she saw Supergirl look their way.

“Oh boy… Lee, tell me you’re wearing the dampener?”

“I—”

“Unless you want to see her in, oh, about thirty seconds, get one on.”

“Here,” Kate quickly peeled the small device off herself and yanked Lena’s blouse out of her skirt so she could reach under and slap it into position over Lena’s heart. “She doesn’t know me yet,” she explained at Lena’s questioning look. “All good Sawyer?” A glance showed a quick thumbs up as Maggie activated her own.

Glancing out through a gap at the side of the blinds, Lena felt her heart kick into a higher beat at the sight of Supergirl as she slowed to a halt, a quizzical look crossing her face as Lena’s heartbeat vanished. Lena had felt sure that she was ready to return to National City but the look of pain and disappointment on Supergirl’s face before she turned and flew away hurt more than she had expected and had Lena having to slap a hand over her own mouth to stop herself from calling out to her.

“Phew,” Kate breathed a sigh of relief. “Glad the blinds and the heart dampeners work.”

“Not sure I would want to rely on them once she knows Lena is back in town.” Once that came out, Maggie was pretty sure that nothing would stop Kara.

“Not sure she would care that much, Maggie.” Straightening up from the wall she had slumped against, Lena positioned the dampener more precisely and tucked her blouse back into place.

Maggie shook her head as Lena bustled around, mumbling quietly to herself about adjustments that needed to be made to the blinds. With resources pooled together from L-Corp and Bruce Wayne’s company in Gotham, they were an advanced form of camouflage that resisted all known forms of surveillance, including prying Krypton eyes. From the other side of the glass, they looked perfectly normal and distorted where anyone was standing in the room. Along with the dampeners that changed the external sounds of a person’s heartbeat, all Kara had seen was three people in the room, all of a similar height and build to disguise their differences, and all with heartbeats she didn’t recognise.

Neither device stood up to lengthy or close scrutiny, but it had been enough.

“Don’t fool yourself, Lena, once she knows you’re back she’ll be all over you.”

“Probably to try and throw me into orbit around the sun.”

“Drop it, Mags,” Kate whispered quietly to her friend as Lena left the room.

“Those two are such complete idiots, Kane. First time I saw them together my gaydar pinged so loudly. They love each other—”

“We both know that sometimes that love isn’t enough. And not to dis your gaydar but both of them have only dated dudes—”

“That means nothing, Kate. Alex had no idea she was into girls until she met me.”

“Braggin’ much?” Kate chuckled at the grin on Maggie’s expressive face but it fell quickly, revealing the pain beneath far too quickly. Kate gently squeezed Maggie’s shoulder as she slumped in pain that was all hers and not Lena’s.

“I didn’t say that about love being not enough to hurt you, Mags. You know that.”

“I know,” Maggie assured her. “I guess… maybe I just want things to be right with those two idiots so I know love can prevail for someone.”

“Maybe when they learn to trust each other again…” Which they both knew wasn’t going to be easy with the lies they were going to have to spread.

Lena shut the bedroom door on the hushed sounds of Kate and Maggie talking. She had the feeling that she was the topic of conversation and she really didn’t hear what they had to say. Her upbringing wouldn’t allow it and she wasn’t in the mood to hear anything bad. Not that she thought they would say anything bad… not really… but then, she hadn’t expected her brother to go on a murderous rampage or her best friend to turn on her so completely either so she didn’t exactly trust her own judgement on what people would or wouldn’t do any more.

She huffed out a sigh. She needed to let go of the anger and pain before it consumed her just as surely has it had Lex. God knows she’d heard it from Maggie and Kate enough over the last couple of months… hell, she even knew internally that there were reasons for Kara not to reveal her identity. But, as she had told her in the Valley of Juru, she could get behind secrets. Lord knew she hadn’t exactly been forthcoming with Supergirl herself many times. Sometimes for good reasons, sometimes for purely selfish ones.

It was the sudden lack of trust from someone that she’d thought had an endless capacity for it with her that had hurt. The sudden turn from being trusted friends; a Super and Luthor working together to being looked at like she was about to plunge a Kryptonite blade right through the symbol on her chest.

Lena quickly turned her eyes away from the window as a flash of red and blue streaked across the sky in the distance, her trajectory leading past L-Corp and down to where the DEO hid out in plain sight… seriously, how in the hell did no one in the city not notice all the military garbed figures pouring in and out of that place and the strangely located balcony where Supergirl entered regularly?

“Worst secret hideout hiding place ever, amiright?”

“Have you never heard of knocking, Maggie?”

“And give you the chance to tell me to piss off?”

“I would never say that.”

“True, you would be all polite about it,” Maggie smirked gently, her spirits lifting as she saw Lena’s mouth quirk up at the corner. “Ready for the briefing?”

“I’ll be right there.” Lena listened to the soft tread of Maggie’s steps in the plush carpet. “Maggie?”

“Yes, Lee?”

Lena turned her head, taking in the fact that Maggie still had her back turned to her. She knew it couldn’t be easy for her friend. While she had lost a friend, Maggie had lost her fiancée, the woman she should have been married to right then if things had gone right. “Are you okay?”

“Hangin’ in there about as much as you are Lee,” she smiled ruefully over her shoulder. “Five minutes, okay?”

“I’ll be there in two if you promise to keep Kate away from my coffee maker.”

Maggie laughed as the sudden burst of noise from the coffee grinder had Lena storming past her all elegant protective rage for her precious black liquid and the machine that gave it life.

When Maggie thought of friends, she had never expected to consider Lena Luthor one of them but when they had run across each other in the gym Maggie used, she had seen the pain in Lena’s eyes and the rage in every blow she had rained down upon the poor defenceless punching bag and had offered her tuition and a shoulder to cry upon. In return, Lena had offered her own shoulder when Maggie had received a drunk text from Alex confessing that she had slept with some time agent called Sara Lance on an alternate Earth… whatever that was supposed to mean.

Up until that moment, Maggie hadn’t realised that she was holding on to the hope that Alex would reach out to her for a different reason.

To try and drown their pain and love of the Danvers’ sisters, though Lena was in denial about that part, they had gone on an expensive, drunken bender and ran afoul of some of the scum that roamed Gotham’s streets. And that was when a cowled figure in red and black, Batwoman, Kate Kane herself, had swooped in and helped them to fight off said scum and then helped their ‘drunken asses’, Kate’s words, back to Lena’s hotel so they wouldn’t get into any more trouble.

Inside of a week, they were all firm friends and had somehow all ended up working together on one of the cases that Maggie’s team had been assigned after she had left National City under the ruse of leaving the country.

**********

Kara tried to school her face into more friendly lines as she alighted on the balcony of the DEO with a little too much force and sent one of the newer recruits there scuttling backwards. “Sorry, Blake.”

“Tha- that’s okay, Supergirl,” Blake fumbled with the iPad in his hands nervously as the superhero walked past him and down the stairs into the main control room with a purpose in her stride. Gripping the tablet tightly, thankful that she hadn’t seen what was upon it, he hurried away.

“Supergirl! It’s about time you showed up! The briefing started ten minutes ago but I’m sure no one will mind going over it again for you.”

Kara crossed her arms and pursed her lips together, holding her rebuttal at Alex’s scolding tone back. She loved her sister, she really did, but the overcompensating and being ‘mean’ now she was Director of the DEO was getting old but she didn’t want to have her looking weak in front of everyone… Rao knew there was enough flack landing on Alex especially for J’onn’s decision to scrap the use of lethal force weapons before he had stood down as Director.

“I’m sorry, I thought I saw something as I was heading in.”

“What? You didn’t report anything?”

“It turned out to be nothing,” Kara mumbled quietly.

Alex frowned as she looked at her sister. Whatever Kara had thought she had seen it had been enough to make her look like a confused puppy. “Later… okay?” she whispered low enough so only Kara could hear.

Kara nodded. “So, what’s going on then?”

“We’ve had reports coming out of Gotham of a potential new threat by the name of Agent Liberty,” she nodded to the image spinning on the screen. “He’s the poster child for a group called the Children of Liberty.”

“I’ve never heard of them.”

“They’ve been small up until now but some of the rhetoric coming out of them is a bit troubling… on the surface all goody-goody and legal but it’s shifting into a more ‘human’s first’ stance.

Kara stiffened, her eyes narrowing as she looked intently at the helmeted, armour suited figure. “I hate to point this out but if they’re not breaking the law…?” And Kara really did hate it, history on Earth and many other planets had proved time and again that nothing good happened when less was thought of one group over another.

“It could all be nothing but their founder, Benjamin Lockwood is coming here to do some ‘talks’ and no doubt Liberty will be with him. This will be the first time he’s come to a city with such a large alien population.”

“One that is only just starting to get over the damage done by the Worldkillers and the Kryptonian witches.”

“Thank you for pointing that out, Brainy.”

“No problem, Director. Oh, was that… sarcasm?”

“What’s Lockwood’s deal then?”

“He’s former CIA with a record so redacted it’s just black pages. He retired from the CIA five years ago to bring up his two children, and started the Children of Liberty after his wife was killed in Metropolis.

“Five years? When Kal and Lex were fighting?”

“Same time but the autopsy I managed to get says it was heart attack due to an undiagnosed condition. Up until that point though there’s nothing, nothing we could find anyway, that says he was overtly anti-alien.”

“Losing family could definitely be a trigger though.”

“Yep. And that’s why I want everyone to be careful around this.”

**********

Lena sat back in her chair as the meeting started to wind down and their team members still in Gotham logged out of the conference call.

“This is bullshit,” Maggie growled, “I can’t believe we still haven’t found anything to connect that bastard to April and Jake’s deaths!”

“We’ll get him, Maggie. I swear to you, we’ll get him.”

“Are you sure you want to do this Lena? No,” Maggie slapped her hand down on the table forcefully, “forget that, you aren’t doing this! We have no idea why your name was brought up by that sicko! It’s too risky! It’s too risky, Kate!”

“Maggie, since I came to National City I’ve been shot at, poisoned, kidnapped, thrown off a building and manipulated more times than I can remember… mostly by my family. Worst of all, I was nearly forced to marry Mon-El.”

“Ew!”

“Exactly. I can handle myself and I’ll have you and Kate to back me up. I’ll be fine.”

“We could bring in the DEO—”

“A big organisation with people we don’t know if we can trust,” Kate pointed out.

“And frankly I would rather not have Alex and Supergirl breathing down our necks when we’re trying to convince Lockwood that I hate aliens too.”

“I know a bit of conflict between the two of you will be good for appearances but this is Supergirl, the ultimate puppy in red and blue. She’ll turn that pout on you and—”

“And nothing, Maggie. There will be no pouting, she already thinks I’m nothing more than a Luthor. I can handle Supergirl and I can handle Lockwood.”

“Well I hope so,” Kate sighed. “’Cause any minute now the ‘news’ on your ‘exploits’ in Gotham will be going worldwide.”

“No backing out now then,” Lena tried to smile reassuringly for the benefit of the others as she nervously fingered the outline of the dampener over her heart, somehow she had the feeling it was going to be working overtime, but going by their looks it fell a little short

**********

“Are you sure there’s nothing?”

“Leave Brainy alone to do his job.”

“If it eases your mind, Supergirl, I am monitoring all channels and all forms of communication for Ms Luthor and have been since she left.”

“There, see,” placing a hand on her sister’s shoulder, Alex tried to still her restless spinning in the chair before she went super-speed without getting taken out by it. “Brainy’s got it covered. What brought this on anyway?” Not that there didn’t seem to be a moment when Kara wasn’t wondering where Lena was but this seemed to be more urgent.

“I thought I picked up her heartbeat earlier,” Kara whispered quietly.

“That was why you were late?”

“Yes. I heard her. I was sure I did. But then it just vanished.” Grabbing a pen off the table she spun it between her fingers to give her restless hands something to do.

“Maybe just wishful thinking, Kar?”

“I mean, she has to be okay, right? Brainy said that Lena comes up with the cure against the lead so that Mon-el could make it back so she had to be okay. Right?”

“Actually, I said that L-Corp created the cure, I did not in actual fact say what year it was found or who created it, only that L-Corp did.”

“Not helping, Brainy!”

“I am just stating the facts, Director Danvers. It is not actually known to me what happened to Lena Luthor… Director Danvers, the look you are giving me… I believe that is the one Winn warned me about.”

“And what did Winn say about this look?”

“That once I saw it I would know fear and should probably run.”

“And…?”

“And I believe I am due for my statutory ten-minute break!” Standing up, Brainy backed away from the desk and the intimidating look in the Directors eyes. And then he froze as a monitor to the side of his workstation flickered to life. “Wait a minute!”

“What’s that for?”

Rather than answering, Brainy moved the Director to the side, tapped at his keyboard and sent the news footage to the big screen in the control room.

_“… Breaking news! Good day. Reports are coming in from Gotham City where the body of a reporter has been found along with damning evidence about one of National City’s former residence… Lena Luthor. Please be advised that the footage you are about to see might be disturbing. Viewer discretion is advised!”_

Kara’s stomach churned in fear and then dropped as the feed switched from the gloating visage of the news anchor to showing footage of Lena obviously filmed in secret. Her Lena… usually so poised no matter what, having meetings with a who’s who of Gotham’s underground, riling and cussing about aliens, how her mother and brother had been right all along and how they needed to get off her planet or she would make them.

“Oh, Lena.” Kara sighed, her head dropping in anguish.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yep, they are all idiots for not talking to each other.


	4. Chapter 4

As the familiar, imposing façade of L-Corp loomed ever closer, Lena was almost tempted to get her driver to just turn the vehicle around and head back to the sanctuary of her penthouse rather than face the building crowd of reporters that Jess had already warned her were waiting outside.

She was built of sterner stuff than that though… but it was tempting when she knew that her arrival would no doubt be noted by Supergirl and the DEO. In fact, they were relying upon it as much as she was dreading it.

It had been three days since the ‘reports’ had broken from Gotham. Since then, apart from a couple of hours where she had appeared over Gotham like an avenging angel in red and blue, the girl of steel had been patrolling the skies above National City with a ruthless efficiency and taking her frustrations out on any wrongdoers with a zeal that had Maggie whistling under her breath and wondering if she hadn’t been infected with red-K while questioning if they were doing the right thing.

It was beyond being too late for cold feet now though. Their bait had been dangled and now it was only a matter of seeing if Lockwood took it and revealed his true intention.

“Back entrance today, Ms Luthor?”

“Yes, I believe that might be for the best,” Lena smiled wryly at her driver as they saw the crush of reporters waiting outside of the main entrance. She wasn’t usually one to shy away from such things but if she ever wanted to make it inside a detour was needed.

As the blacked out town car glided to a smooth halt in the underground parking on L-Corp, Lena felt her spirits lifting at the sight of her personal assistant, Jess, waiting by the personal elevator for her. Lex had quite obviously had nefarious plans in mind for it as it had only four stops; the roof for escape by helicopter, the panic room of the CEO office, the car park where it was carefully hidden from sight behind the disguise of a nondescript door, and the underground lab where she had taken Sam.

Lena stepped inside, holding her tongue until the doors had closed behind them and Jess gave a solemn nod to say that they were secure from prying ears of Super or electronic varieties before breaking into a huge grin.

“Welcome home, Ms Westenra,” breaking all protocol, Jess wrapped her boss up in a friendly hug.

“You enjoyed that part of it too much I think,” Lena chuckled as Jess only smiled even more brightly.

“Spy novels are a guilty pleasure of mine so… Maybe a little,” Jess admitted. “It is good to have you back though.”

“Nonsense, I bet it’s been blissfully quiet without having to deal with making sure my will is up to date every other week and trying to keep up with my crazy hours.”

“The will part I could live without. No one as good as you should have to go through that,” Jess gently admonished her as much as she could… pleased to see her boss duck her head ever so slightly in recognition. “The crazy hours… I kind of like the challenge of trying to keep up with your work ethic. Eve will be glad to know you’re back, she’s been complaining slightly about how tedious Olson is to work for fulltime again.”

“Really, I don’t know how that girl hasn’t been snapped up by somewhere more deserving of her talents,” Lena shook her head sadly at the thought of that brilliant mind going to waste. “Have the board being behaving while I’ve been away?”

“About as much as can be expected.”

Lena hid her smile as Jess’ tone and tightly pressed together lips spoke more clearly than her words. “I’m sure they’re _ecstatic_ to hear I’m back and ready to be in charge again.”

“Can I be the one to send out the email to let them know?” Jess asked eagerly.

“I wouldn’t dream of denying you the pleasure,” Lena smirked. “Now, before business, has there been anything… forthcoming?”

“Actually, yes,” tapping away on the iPad in her hand, Jess handed it to Lena. “This came in just a little while ago.” She watched as a finely shaped eyebrow climbed elegantly, a predatory smile of anticipation quirking up the corner of her mouth.

“Hmm, a personal invitation? Well, it would be impolite not to accept. But… wait until later to accept it for me, Jess, I don’t want to appear too eager and…”

“Have a lapse and sent it by less ‘secure’ means?”

Giving a nod of assent, Lena smoothed non-existent creases out of her too tight skirt and the front of her suit jacket, instinctively checking that it lay in a neat line around her waist before the door to the elevator opened smoothly to reveal the interior of the rather lavishly furnished panic room. “Lex always did have a flair for the dramatic.”

“Saves dealing with the press though. Speaking of, how would you like to deal with them?”

“I think maybe an exclusive statement to one of the fine members of the press should suffice. Once one gets the story the others should lose interest fairly quickly.”

Jess grimaced slightly. “That would usually be…” she held the name in check as Lena’s shoulders sagged slightly before returning to an even tighter line as the heels of her Louboutin’s beat a staccato beat across the floor. “Would you like me to see if Catco has someone else they can send?” she queried as she hurried after her boss.

“I’m afraid that Ms Luthor won’t have time for the press today.”

“Ahh, good morning, Agent… sorry, Director Danvers. You’re a little early, I asked Jess to pencil in my arrest for this afternoon.”

“I’m not here to arrest you, Lena—”

“No?” Lena looked around challengingly at the other two black-clad agents standing behind Kara’s sister looking very out of place in her office. “In that case, I’m afraid that my day is quite booked up,” she waved her hand dismissively, inviting Alex and the others to get the hell out of her building.

Reaching out, Alex wrapped her fingers around Lena’s wrist and steadfastly ignored the withering gaze coming from Lena’s pale green eyes with the ferocity of Kara’s heat vision. “You need to come with us, Lena. Please don’t make this any more difficult than it has to be.”

Lena felt hatred boiling up in her at Alex’s perfectly reasonable tone and the softness in her eyes. That was the same look she had used before Brainiac 5 had sent them into Juru and when she had begged for Ruby’s location. So friendly and begging for trust… and then it was all accusing looks and jabs with pointy sticks and harsh words.

“I’m surprised that Supergirl isn’t here to do this herself. Oh,” Lena tilted her head thoughtfully at the nervous flare in Alex’s dark eyes. “She doesn’t know!”

“Supergirl doesn’t need to be here for this. We just want to have a word with you about recent events.”

“Then please, sit.”

“At the DEO.”

“At your secret government facility… No. I have no desire or intention of going anywhere with you and you can’t make me go with you—”

“Actually, I can.” Spinning Lena around, Alex pushed her up against the edge of her desk and quickly cuffed her hands behind her back.

“You said you weren’t going to arrest me… though I’m not sure if you even have the authority to make arrests!”

Ignoring Lena’s protests, Alex pulled her upright and grabbed her by the elbow. “I didn’t want it to go down like this Lena—”

“Excuse me for not believing you right now!” Lena gritted out as the cuffs bit into her wrists.

“Jess, if you would be so good as to let us use the private elevator you’ve got hidden back there, we can avoid this ending up on the news.” Turning Lena slightly, she let her assistant get a good look at the cuffs digging into Lena’s slender wrists. “Would be a shame if the board got to hear of this, don’t you think?”

Catching Lena’s eye, Jess hurried to unlock the panic room and keyed in the parking area on the elevators control panel.

“When have you ever been so caring, Alex? I thought you would relish the chance to parade me in front of my employees and the press like a common criminal and drag my name through the mud! Just another Luthor, right?” Pausing in her tirade, Lena gave Jess a quick wink before the doors closed between them.

Jess listened to the barely perceptible sounds of the elevator going down before calmly closing up the panic room and turning on all the security devices in Lena’s office before thumbing a contact on her phone.

“Yo!”

“Westenra’s in the wind.”

“You know everything is scrambled, right?”

“Come on, let me have this, Renfield!”

“Why did I have to get named after Dracula’s meat puppet?”

“Because Kate’s, Grayson,” stated as though it was all perfectly reasonable… which it was.

Maggie rolled her eyes. “You are never picking codenames again.”

“It is a favourite show of Ms Luthor’s,” Jess defended herself.

“I know, she made us watch it too… just as she did Kara. Now, you say our Lucy is in the wind?”

“Yes, Van Helsing just swooped in and grabbed her just like you suspected she would,”

“You are really, never, ever, picking the names again,” Maggie groaned. “Hey, Grayson! Get your fangs over here, we’ve got trouble. Just out of curiosity, what code name have you given, you-know-who, Jess?”

“Mina of course. The real love story of the show.”

“Even after Mina turned Lucy away—”

“We do not speak of that episode, Renfield! You know the rules! Mina and Lucy are married and Lexa and Clarke are together in Polis as it should be.”

Maggie chuckled lightly, knowing full well that Jess was attempting to hide her nerves behind mindless chatter. “She’ll be okay. Kate, sorry, Grayson and I will get her out of there. And I know Mina and Helsing, they won’t hurt her.”

“I’m just worried for her.” Terrified would be more like it. Despite the mask, her boss’ hid behind, she’d seen how affected she was by all the attempts on her life and by what had happened with Supergirl. And while she was certain that no physical harm would come to here this time, she knew that words could leave scars just as deep.

“I’ll get her to call you as soon as she’s out. Though, knowing Lena, she’ll just turn up at work anyway.”

**********

Lena held her tongue and kept her eyes fixed upon the seam in the elevator doors as soon as they closed. She quietly counted off the floors as it jerked ever so slightly and descended through the building towards the parking area. The other two agents meant nothing to her as long as they kept their weapons out of her face but she could feel it each time Alex’s eyes landed upon her. And although the other woman held her tongue as much as she did, Lena could feel the weight of her gaze begging her to talk.

Lena was a chess player, a skilled one… which was a statement of fact and not bragging. She had started to learn the game first when her birth mother’s bedside when she had first fallen ill but had perfected it when she was four and had entered the Luthor household. From the start they had played with her like an adult, making no allowances for her age or lack of knowledge the game. Because of that and her natural skill and a quick mind, Lena had quickly surpassed everyone in the family. She knew how to watch the board, how to think steps in advance and play the long game.

Skills that had served her well in chess and in life.

Alex Danvers was a woman of action. A scientist and a soldier. That didn’t mean that she couldn’t play the long game or be patient, but she did prefer to take chances and react quickly to a situation. Because of that, it was actually a surprise to Lena that they made it all the way to the DEO and into an all too familiar small conference room without Alex threatening her.

Lena couldn’t help but think that it was very foolish of them that Alex didn’t even have her walk through a scanner to check for weapons even though she was kind of grateful as that meant the small scrambler that kept her heartbeat from reaching Kara remained in place a while longer. Her gratitude didn’t make her any more inclined to talk though if that was Alex’s plan.

Placing her finally uncuffed hands upon the top of the table in front of her, Lena looked straight ahead and used her mind to run complex calculations to work through the designs for a device she had been planning, a chess game against herself, and listening to Hayley Kiyoko all at the same time.

Alex huffed in exasperation, her patience growing short as Lena continued to look right through her and ignored each and every question. If not for the occasional blink and the even more occasional movement of her fingers upon the table, Alex might have considered checking to make sure there was still a pulse of if Lena hadn’t been replaced by a mannequin when her back was turned.

“Lena, you need to talk to me. Be reasonable. What happened in Gotham?”

“Director Danvers?”

“What is it?!”

“I just thought you should know… There appears to be a situation at the docks and the police have requested our assistance.”

“Contact Supergirl—”

“She’s still helping at a fire on the other side of the city.”

Alex stared across the table at Lena. She really didn’t want to pass up the chance to get some answers out of her… not that she had had much luck so far… but she knew she had to help. Which meant personally as they were still so short staffed. “Fine,” surging to her feet, Alex gestured to the guards waiting outside. “You, stay with her. If she causes any trouble, throw her in a cell. You’re with me.”

Shifting her head after Alex had left, Lena gave the lone guard in the room with her the smallest of smiles. Her reputation, or more likely the Luthor reputation her mother and Lex had built, obviously proceeded her as her smile had him shifting nervously. “You must be new here?”

Too new to mess with, Lena decided as her question just seemed to make him nervous so she just started quietly counting off the minutes in her head until the almost military precision pounding of boots growing nearer upon the floor ended with a thud of a clenched fist against the door a second before it was opened and two figures in DEO tactical gear crowded the doorway, their faces hidden behind balaclavas.

“We’ve come to take the prisoner to the cells.”

“Director Danvers said I was to hold her here.”

“The Director changed her mind and sent us back.”

“If you think you’re going to put me into a cell next to an alien!” Lena writhed against the tight grip of the taller of the new guards and managed to get a good elbow into their ribs for good measure before her hands were once more cuffed behind her back.

“Wildcat this one.”

“I’ll show you wild you alien love—” Lena mumbled furiously into the hand slapped over her mouth and swung a kick towards the guard Alex had left as he tried to move closer to assist.

“Rather you than me,” he chuckled wryly.

Lena kept up the grumbling and cussing until she’d been dragged around a couple of corners and arched through yet another elevator door. Once they were closed she grew still and quiet and restrained herself to only one kick to a shin.

“Ow!”

“That’s for being rough with the cuffs!”

“Had to make it look good, Lee,” Kate protested as hopped around briefly, hiding the surreptitious rubbing of her shin and she pulled off one layer of clothing and handed them to Lena to change into. “Don’t worry, cameras are disabled in here.”

“Kate even managed to sneak a couple of bugs into the main control room and the server room on the way through,” Maggie chuckled.

“I was wondering what took you so long.”

“Hey, it was too good a chance to pass up,” Kate defended herself. “Here, put this on before we head out,” she handed Lena a spare balaclava and adjusted a voice distorted to lay out of sight beneath it after Lena pulled it over her head. “Test.”

“How does this sound?” Beneath the cover of the balaclava, Lena frowned as she adjusted to the strangeness of hearing her voice coming out slightly distorted. It wasn’t as good as the ones that Maggie and Kate were using as she could still hear herself but it would do.

“Hmm, kind of sexy in a weird way… Just don’t get into any lengthy conversations with anyone and you should be good to go.”

“I can do strong silent type.”

“Let’s just try for silent,” Kate smirked with a quick poke at Lena’s bicep as Maggie sniggered beneath the cover of her balaclava.

“Oh, and who was it that tossed your ass the last time we sparred?”

“That was Maggie after you distracted me. And no, no matter what you claim, you don’t get to claim half shares in the takedown, that’s not how it works.”

Lena was grateful for the balaclava covering her face as the elevator door parted and they stepped out. Heading right towards them with a long stride, her red cape streaming behind her, her blonde hair bouncing like rays of sun around a face that was as dark and threatening as thunder while she glared at the sister at her side, was Supergirl.

Lena wasn’t sure who grabbed her arm but she flattened herself back to the edge of the corridor, turning aside her face to avoid meeting their gaze as the two women stormed past.

“What were you thinking, Alex!”

“Keep moving,” Kate hissed as the elevator door closed on them. Damn, she’d felt the intimidation coming off Maggie’s ex before but the blonde Kryptonian took it to a whole new level! It was no wonder that some thought they were gods… and it was also no wonder that Lena’s feet seemed to be glued to the floor. “One foot in front of the other, Lee.”

Herding them both outside, she got them to the safety of the nondescript van they had hidden out of sight.

The drive back to the penthouse was quiet, to say the least. Not that Kate could blame them as her own hands were shaking more than she would have liked and every sound had her half expecting the van to be torn apart by an angry blonde god.

**********

Kara let her hands drop from where they had been planted on her hips and calmly closed the door behind her as best as she could with the frame crumbled slightly by her hand. It muffled the sound of Alex giving the guard that had been left in charge of Lena a good dressing down for the fifth time in a matter of minutes but nothing could still the roaring in her own head that had been present since she had heard chatter over the comm that Alex had taken Lena from L-Corp. And the roar had grown steadily louder when she found that Lena had then been taken right from under their protection after Alex had left to deal with an emergency that was faked to get her out of the DEO.

Taking Lena had been bad enough. Yeah, Alex might have thought she had reason enough. And yes, they needed to talk to her. But Kara knew Lena, she did not respond well to threats!

But for her to be taken like that…

Kara’s restless hands crumpled the back of the chair she had been touching to scrap.

Lena’s life seemed to be spent literally dodging one bullet after another and now she had been taken Rao only knew where and from right under their noses… and Kara still couldn’t hear her heartbeat no matter how hard she tried.

Lena could be dead and she would never know until her body turned up!

Kara whirled around angrily as the door opened behind her, her anger lessening only slightly at the sight of Alex standing in the doorway.

“Kara…” stepping inside, her hands raised in a placating gesture, Alex gently closed the door behind her. “I know you think I screwed up… and maybe you’re right,” she added at Kara’s derisive snort. “You know how smart Lena is though, I had to try and wrongfoot her to get some answers.”

“Yeah, how did that go?”

Sighing, Alex pulled out a chair, urging Kara to sit in the hopes she would calm down once she was off her feet. Sitting next to her, Alex leaned closer, gently trapping Kara’s hands beneath her own on Kara’s tense thighs. “Hey, we’ll find her, Kar. We know she’s back in National City…”

“I still can’t hear her heartbeat, Alex! What- what if she’s dead already?”

Alex sat back in her chair, her brow creasing in thought. She’d seen the stress that Kara had been putting on herself since she had thought she had heard Lena’s heart and knew that she had been listening almost constantly for it again. There was just no way on Earth or any other planet she would have missed Lena’s return to National City.

“No wonder we beat you to L-Corp. I thought we’d just gotten lucky with you being busy but, she’s found a way to block you… It has to be!”

“How does that help now though?”

“Maybe Brainy can find a way to break through what she’s using to unscramble it or amplify it so you can find her? It’s worth a try, right?” Seeing the uncertainty in Kara’s posture, Alex gave her hands a firm squeeze. “Hey, we will find her. Then we’ll get answers.” Though she couldn't help but wonder what Kara would do if the reports from Gotham were true and Lena had a hand in the reporter's death. Kara had trusted Lena fiercely and unwaveringly before… and had been proved right… but since the whole Kryptonite making had come to light? “Until then… It looks like they _finally_ managed to get the security footage together so we can see what went down.”

Kara sat back in her chair, watching nervously as Alex signalled for Brainy to send the footage to the room they were in. She wasn’t really sure why she was so nervous… until the feed started up and she saw Lena and realised she’d been harbouring the fear that her friend would have changed so utterly. But there she was, poised and utterly composed even under the intensity of Alex’s questioning, her only outburst coming when the two strange ‘guards’ came in and they she had riled against them as though knowing they were there not to take her to the cells… but not once had she made an effort to beg the original guard for help.

“She knew them,” Alex muttered under her breath.

Kara said nothing. She’d already worked that out by Lena’s actions before they’d left the room and Lena had stopped fighting them. If not for the excellent sound quality that came with the feed, she might have wondered if they had threatened her into compliance.

“What happened?” Kara stiffened as the elevator feed cut out as the doors closed.

Alex ran the footage forward, switching the feed to another source as the doors opened. “They didn’t want anyone to see or hear what went on in there. “Crap! We were that close to them?!” She rubbed a hand over her face as they saw themselves not more than fifteen minutes before, walking right by who they now knew was Lena and the two people that had helped her escape. “Son of a bitch!”

“What? What does that mean anyway?” Kara questioned as Alex rewound the feed and growled darkly as before they left, one of the three turned back and raised two fingers to their temple in a jaunty salute.

“Lesbians.”

“What?” Straightening up in her chair, Kara turned it to face Alex. “That means—? That’s,” she repeated the gesture, “Alex… you had me doing that last year… at the Pride parade! No wonder Lena kept giving me strange looks!”

“It showed solidarity and the community needs that. And who stronger than Supergirl.” And Maggie daring her to do it to try and get a rise out of Lena had had nothing to do with it.

“Alex, I’m all for being an ally but you have no idea how many phone numbers I had to turn down that day!”

“Would it have been so bad for some of them to think of you as a lesbian?”

“But I’m _not_ a lesbian.”

Deciding to let it drop, and maybe stinging a little from Kara’s tone, Alex played the last bit of the footage over and over. She watched it intently, trying to work out what kept drawing her back to it. No matter how much she was focused on it though she couldn’t help but see how Kara was fixated on the way one of them kept glancing back. She was willing to bet any money that if they could change the angle and zoom in, they would find a familiar pair of green eyes looking back at Kara’s retreating form.

Alex wasn’t looking at that though… her eyes were trained on the shorter of the other two figures, her mind churning around and around wondering why she was fixed on that one… and in particular the way her ass moved when she walked.

She could swear she’d seen that ass before.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't worry, Lena and Kara will be coming together soon.


	5. Chapter 5

Kara shifted upon the floor where she was sitting, a sigh of frustration bursting out of her mouth with such force she managed to snuff out all but one of the candles before her.

She had tried everything; meditation, praying to Rao, working out with and without power dampeners until Alex had forced her to leave before she broke any more equipment or threw anyone through a wall. She’d thrown herself into work until there was no one left even on the seediest of street corners or in the worst of the worst neighbourhoods to arrest and all the cats, and snakes, in National City knew better than to even look at a tree.

Yoga had just reminded her more of the times she had done it with Lena and that just had her thinking about how Lena looked stretched and poised elegantly in each of the yoga positions. Which had proved to be such a distraction one time that Lena had managed to get her to try a kale smoothie before she’d come to her senses!

She’d even tried going to the alien bar and drinking herself into oblivion. But, instead of making her forget, the alcohol had just made her feel sad and break things like walls, lampposts and parked cars while stumbling home.

Lifting the one remaining lit candle, Kara gazed into the pure heart of the flame in an almost desperate attempt to find the peace and calm that had been evading her for days within the flickering flame.

Kara sighed again in frustration with herself for refusing to quantify her lack of calm with her continued failure to find Lena even though she knew full well that she was back in National City. Not that Kara would have known that if not for the security footage as every item of news about her was coming in days after the fact and as little more than hearsay as Lena had apparently mastered the art of avoiding cameras too.

With a soft, frustrated exhale, Kara blew the candle out, watching as the thin wisp of acrid smoke coiled into the air as she put it back down where it swayed drunkenly before toppling over to spill the molten wax pooled at the wick thanks to the dents her fingers had put into it in her frustration.

Grabbing a spoon and pint of ice cream from the freezer, Kara threw herself down on the couch and turned on the TV in an effort to distract herself while she stress ate her way through the container of frozen, creamy delight.

Maybe it would help to order in some pizzas or Chinese food… or both?

Both sounded good.

Even as Kara reached for her phone she debated if it wouldn’t just be quicker to use her super-speed and get them herself or if it would be too much of a risk to do that while in civilian clothing. Of course, she could always just suit up and go but that tended to cause a stir when Supergirl turned up to order takeaway. Which usually resulted in Alex fussing at her while she had to fill in paperwork that felt just a bit too much like having to do lines as punishment. Though it was strange how Alex wasn’t too concerned about that when she needed drinks picking up in a rush.

Kara didn’t want to think of her sister right then though. She was still mad at her for going after Lena how she had instead of letting her know that she was back in town. They had so many things to work out between them and Kara couldn’t even make a start on that now that Lena’s defences were up.

Stuff it, she was going to get pizzas and potstickers!

Kara hadn’t quite decided if she was feeling brave enough to risk Alex’s wrath or the ton of paperwork that was sure to follow if she turned up for takeout as Supergirl when her feet froze, her body coming to a grinding halt before her open windows.

Her eyes closed instinctively, her head tilting as she tracked a sound so familiar it was a part of her.

“Lena.” The name left her mouth as a hushed whisper but Kara bit her lip, half afraid that saying it would have the sound of her heart fading away as it had before but it continued at the same steady rhythm. The beat of it acting like a salve against Kara’s nerves.

Kara’s breath caught, tears pricking at the back of her eyes as she locked in on the direction of it and stepped out onto the fire escape. A quick glance around was all she spared before taking off into the night without a care for the fact that she was wearing civilian clothing.

She rocketed straight up, bursting through the clouds above to hide her from view as she made her way across the city in the same direction that she had heard Lena’s heart before.

Excitement flooded Kara’s body, her muscles straining against the urge to speed to Lena’s side as quickly as possible. For so long, since the moment she had first laid eyes upon the dark-haired Luthor and found herself under the scrutiny of eyes that shifted colour through a full spectrum of greens and blues with her mood and the light, Kara had felt seen as Kara in a way she’d never felt seen before.

It was Lena; a powerful woman, CEO of a billion dollar company and rich in her own right… a certifiable genius fighting against the legacy left hanging over her every word and move because of a name, who had put the idea into Kara’s head that she should be a reporter and given her; a woman that could bend titanium with her bare hands, the strength to believe in herself and go after what she wanted.

Cat Grant might have seen it in her first but, knowing Cat, if Kara hadn’t said she wanted to be a reporter, Cat would have kept her original appraisal of what she should be all to herself and would have kept her as her assistant or sent her to work in sales instead.

Lena had seen her. And that was the woman… her best friend… that she wanted to find again so they could work past the kryptonite, the hiding of her secret identity and all the harsh words they had spoken.

There had to be a way…

Didn’t there?

Doubt started to claw at Kara’s mind as she checked the rooftop for camera’s or anything else that might give her away while she drifted slowly down to alight upon it. Deciding to go for the confident ‘I own the place’ approach, Kara straightened her shoulders and strolled right through the door that led to the roof. As she did though she paid close attention to the sound of Lena’s heart, but there was nothing to indicate that she was watching monitors or was being made aware that a strange blonde woman had appeared on the roof.

Moments later, Kara was standing outside of a pair of huge, intimidating and very expensive looking black doors that stood between herself and the source of the lulling heartbeat.

Kara lifted her hand to knock and then, wracked by indecision, dropped her hand back to her side.

No! They had to sort this out and they couldn’t do that unless they were actually face to face and talking!

With renewed determination, Kara lifted her hand and pounded her fist on the door.

A crack splinted out, travelling up and down the door from the point of contact of her unrestrained knock.

“Oh shoot!” Too much power!

From beyond the splintered door, Kara heard the chilling sound of Lena’s scream followed at almost the same instant by a crash of glass shattering and the startled beating of Lena’s heart as it thudded against her ribs. It ripped across her senses and Kara responded as she always would when it came to Lena… even when she was the one responsible… she twisted the handles of the doors, shattering the locking mechanism within the heavy wood as she forced her way inside.

With a burst of super-speed, Kara rushed across the spacious length of the open plan living area to where Lena was crouched down, her right hand cradled against her as blood dripped from a deep cut at the base of her thumb. Shards of glass lay around her bare feet their wicked points twinkling in the light.

Their eyes meet for the first time in months and Kara lost herself in the brilliance and beauty of Lena’s startled green gaze. Sweeping Lena off her feet before she could move and cut herself further, Kara gently carried her away from the glass and placed her gently down on a high stool at the long breakfast bar.

Kara could feel the weight of Lena’s eyes upon the top of her bent head as she carefully checked the cut on her hand but neither of them broke the strange bubble of calm around them with words as though afraid that if either of them did it might ruin whatever was going on.

As gently as she could, Kara eased a slither of glass from the wound. She heard Lena hiss through her teeth in pain and felt her fingers bunching up the fabric of her cardigan on her shoulder as she tied a clean handkerchief around it until she could find something better.

Kara felt dazed, almost mesmerised like she’s walking through a dream as she looked up to take in everything that is Lena Luthor; the colour of her eyes, the sharp, defined line of her jaw, her raven hair laying in softly tumbling curls around her shoulders, the delicate porcelain of her skin, the beauty mark at the base of her throat that looked as kissable as the fullness of her lips.

Dragging her eyes away from the beauty of Lena’s face, Kara tried to compose herself and her wayward and not at all appropriate thoughts, but she found herself just getting even more lost as her eyes drifted down, Taking in the plunging neckline of Lena’s dress. She traced the sharp, delicate lines of Lena’s collarbones to the lush swell of her breasts. Her eyes caught on Lena’s necklace, the way the pink, teardrop gem moved with every breath and beat of Lena’s heart. The light catching within the cut of the stone was almost as mesmerizing as the cleavage it was nestled within.

Kara watched as her fingers seemed to move of their own volition, tracing a path across the silky softness of Lena’s flesh from her collarbone and down until they lay against the flesh warmed pink stone of Lena’s necklace, pressing it gently into the pliant flesh beneath.

A soft, husky moan fell from Lena’s lips and Kara’s eyes were drawn to their fullness. Her own lips tingled as she watched the pink of Lena’s tongue sweep across her lips. Lena’s white teeth bit into her bottom lip, pressing just hard enough to create small indentations in the trapped flesh. The sight made Kara’s body throb in a way it only ever did around her friend.

Kara leaned closer, her hands gently cradling Lena’s face. She held back, her heart pounding as she gave Lena a chance to pull away if she truly wanted to before pressing their lips together. The kiss was soft and gentle, just a press of flesh against flesh. But it was Lena and the contact, as gentle and unassuming as it was, felt like something had finally clicked into place within Kara.

They moaned into each other and Kara was dimly aware of Lena’s hands fluttering and flattening against her back, pulling her closer. But it was those lips, god those lips, so soft and perfect against her own, feeling so right as they moved together with a ease and passion she had never felt with anyone else.

Kara pulled away from the seductive pillows of Lena’s mouth, a soft, lamenting moan following her departure that hitched and turned husky with need as Kara’s mouth found the delicate column of Lena’s neck. She licked and sucked delicately at the fragrant flesh, her tongue probing and following the line of her collarbone. She could feel an urgency building within her, a flame of need that made her ache to get closer.

Wrapping her arms around Lena, Kara dragged the tips of her fingers down Lena’s back, moaning at the way muscles covered in soft, delicate flesh danced at her touch as Lena arched into her. Kara’s eager hands forged a heated trail over the womanly curve of Lena’s hips, finding the hem of her dress where it lay tight across her thighs above her knees. She pushed the fabric of Lena’s dress up out of her way so she could step into the cradle of Lena’s parted thighs and could finally feel the heat of her core pressed against her abdomen.

Kara moaned deeply against Lena’s flesh at the sensation. Above her she felt the tug of Lena’s fingers twisted and tunnelled into her hair, holding her tighter against the swell of pale breast exposed by her dress that she was mouthing with increasing urgency as the pink gem pressed against her cheek.

The almost liquid sound of ripping fabric as Lena’s dress parted at the seams like tissue paper beneath her restless hands sent sparks of desire racing along Kara’s spine. She bit down into the creamy flesh but pulled back instantly, evading Lena’s attempt to pull her back as she caught the hint of pain in Lena’s gasp. Kara’s eyes widened with horror at the sight of the perfect imprint of her teeth standing out starkly upon the pale upper swell of Lena’s breast.

Lena was left gasping in shock, pushing her suddenly super-blown hair back off her face as the door to her apartment banged closed and hung there drunkenly on bent and most likely broken hinges. Feeling like she was coming out of a daze, Lena looked around, taking in the fact that the floor was clear of glass and the whiskey she had spilt, and that there was a bandage expertly wrapped around her hand.

Apart from those small details… and the fact that her dress had an indecent split in it that ran from the hem almost to her waist, Lena might have thought it all a dream or wishful thinking… until there was another sudden burst of hurricane force super powered breeze and Lena looked down to find a bottle of water in her hand, a Spongebob band-aid over the bite mark on her breast, the ghost of a tingle that lingered on her lips and the last impression caught in her mind of the backs of Kara’s fingers resting upon her flesh as she had gently straightened her necklace.

Picking the jewel up between her fingers, Lena frowned at it for a moment before letting it drop back into place.

“What in the… hell?”

“Yeah, we were thinking that too,” Kate chuckled from the doorway. “So much for her being ‘straight’,” she air quoted around the word and smirked as Lena slid off the stool and wobbled even though she wasn’t wearing her ridiculous ‘fuck me’ heels.

Slapping her friend on the shoulder, Maggie marched past her and went to check on the state of the door. “Little Danvers is rough on furniture,” she whistled between her teeth.

“And boobs. Ow!” Kate winced as Lena slapped at her prodding fingers. “Well, at least she provided a band-aid afterwards.”

Lena shook her head as she looked at Spongebob smiling at her from her breast again. She went to peel it off but found her hand assaulted with a stinging retaliatory slap she was sure was much harder than the one she had delivered to Kate’s hand.

“Leave it, it’s cute,” she grinned.

“Kate, it’s a yellow cartoon character and it’s leering at me from my boob… it is in no way… _cute._ ”

“It is kind of cute,” Maggie smirked as Lena’s eyebrow climbed.

“Et tu, Sawyer?”

With hands trembling just a little more than she would have liked, Lena poured a generous shot of whiskey into a fresh glass and sat where she could look out of the window at the city beyond.

The cut on her hand throbbed as she curled it around the glass, reminding Lena of the last injury it had suffered when she had been face to face with Kara the last time. At least this time had been less painful… if more confusing. Catching Kate’s eyes twinkling at her knowingly, Lena just managed to stop herself from touching her lips and tried desperately to quash the memory of Kara’s touch and especially the way her mouth had felt against her own.

“How did she find us anyway?”

“The dampener was aggravating my skin,” Lena nodded to where the offending item was sitting. “I took it off to clean the area and before I could put it back on she nearly knocked the door down.”

“Nearly?” Maggie couldn’t help but chuckle wryly as the doors chose that moment to give an almost pained groaning sound and the one on the left lurched drunkenly on its hinges. “I’ll put a call into maintenance to get that fixed… or do we think the DEO is going to be busting them down any minute to whisk you away?”

“Somehow I think if Alex knew, Kara would have been suited up and there might have been less…”

“Kissing?” Kate finished as Lena just sat there waving her arms around like she was still struggling to get what had happened straight in her head.

_Straight? Ha, yeah right!_

“It might be best if we move down to another floor for a while though, Mags. Just in case we’re needed for another rescue,” she explained as they both looked at her in confusion. “We’ve only got a couple of places at the DEO bugged and from what I’ve seen of your ex in action—”

“I wish you would stop calling her that,” Maggie grumbled under her breath.

“She’s more the kind to swing right into action before she calls anything in.”

Maggie scowled at the appreciative growl and smirk on Kate’s face. “Are you falling for my ex- I mean Alex?”

“Two redheads together? Are you crazy?!” Kate snorted. “God, no! I can just appreciate a woman of action, ‘kay?”

Maggie was all set to come up with another retort… as soon as she could think of one anyway. But before she could drag Lena into it for moral support, she saw how lost in thought the other woman was, her usual confidant demeanour gone, leaving her looking small and vulnerable.

“Hey,” sitting next to her, Maggie scooted closer until she was almost pressed against Lena’s side. Her cop senses sprung into full alert as she finally saw the extent of the rip in Lena’s dress that she had managed to carefully hide from them when she had crossed the room. “Did… did Kara hurt you?” It seemed inconceivable that the literal ray of sunshine that was Kara Danvers would do anything like that but then… she’d also never would of expected Kara to act how she had… and the last time she had acted so out of character it had been under the influence of red kryptonite and had thrown Cat Grant from the top floor of CatCo.

“What?” Blinking, Lena swam up from the depths of her thoughts where Kara still lingered with soft kisses and insistent hands and followed Maggie’s troubled gaze to the rip in her dress… a very expensive dress that even though it was pocket change to her, Lena was tempted to send a bill for a new one to Kara or the DEO as a warning for Kara to mind her strength next time.

_Next time? No! No, next time!_

“Oh. Oh…!” realising the direction of Maggie’s thoughts, Lena quickly rushed to reassure her. “It- No, Kara didn’t hurt me.” She could feel the heat blazing a trail across her cheeks. “I- erm…” God! She hated it… Lena Luthor did not get tongue-tied over a kiss! No matter how good the kiss was… “Kara just got a little…”

“Enthusiastic? Horny?”

“Shouldn’t you be busy packing your bags, Kane?”

Throwing up her hands in surrender at the rather impressive glare Lena was shooting her way, Kate left them to it and made her way to her room to pack away all her gear. If Supergirl and the DEO did decide to show up again she would hate for all her Batwoman toys to go missing and have to fill in all the tedious paperwork there was sure to be to get them back.

“Are you sure you’re okay? ‘Cause you know, super-powered Kryptonian or not, I will kick little Danvers’ ass if she did anything.”

Lena chuckled at the fierce protectiveness in Maggie’s voice. To think that there was once a time she had heard the same tone in Kara’s voice because Maggie had turned up to arrest her. “I would love to see that. But no, the only thing to suffer was my dress… and my ego for this,” she tapped the ridiculous Spongebob band-aid still smiling up at her from her left breast. “To tell you the truth… if she hadn’t bolted, I’m not sure I would have stopped her at all,” she whispered almost too low for Maggie to hear.

“Even though you hate her?”

“I never hated her, Maggie. I was disappointed and hurt, and I hated myself for some of the things I said as much as what she said… We both said some nasty things, Maggie… but I never hated Kara… I love her. Or at least I think I love her.”

“Think?”

“There was never much love in the Luthor household, Maggie. Especially not for a bastard, orphan outcast. What the hell do I know about what love is supposed to look like when every intimate relationship I have ever had has been a lie.”

“A lie, how?”

“There was only one thing my mother hated more than aliens, and that was people with ‘unnatural’ inclinations.”

“Ahhh,” Maggie sighed sadly in understanding.

“Exactly. I’ve learned to keep my encounters very, _very_ private.”

“Then I hate to tell you this, Lena but you give off the gayest vibe of anyone I’ve ever seen.”

“I think that’s just your excellent gaydar then as according to Sam and Kara there was ‘chemistry’ between James and myself,” she rolled her eyes and chuckled as Maggie made a gagging sound.

“Let’s face it, Kara went out with Mon-El,” _which had been unfortunately done at Alex’s urging,_ “and she thought that Alex was straight,” _and so had Alex._ “Frankly, neither of the Danvers’ sister’s judgment is not to be trusted when it comes to heterosexual relationships. As for Sam, she was always moments away from becoming Reign so can we really trust what was going on with her?”

Lena shrugged her shoulders and occupied herself by taking another sip of her whiskey. Really, did it matter? One kiss didn’t really mean anything and who knew what it really meant with Kara.

“I’d better go gather my shit together… just in case.”

“Not eager to run into Alex?”

“If she’s breathing hellfire and brimstone thinking you tried to seduce her little sister?”

“Hey, Kara kissed me!”

**********

“What did you say?”

“I said, I kissed her,” Kara mumbled into the hands she had covering her face.

“Nope,” barely over the sudden arrival of her sister on her doorstep in the middle of the night let alone her inexplicable words, Alex shook her head in confusion as she gazed down at the hunched over form of her sister, “you’re going to have to sit up and speak clearly, Kar. For some reason, all I heard then was that you kissed Lena Luthor.” And no matter how much lip biting they had done around each other that was definitely out of character.

“That’s ‘cause I did,” sighing deeply, Kara straightened up on her sister’s couch and dropped her hands down to her lap. Hands that still twitched at the memory of holding Lena. “I kissed her, Alex.” Turning her head, Kara met Alex’s eyes confused gaze briefly with her own before dropping her gaze back to her hands to study the blood from Lena’s cut still upon them.

“Whose blood is that?”

“Lena’s.”

“Kar—”

“She dropped a glass and cut herself on it when I knocked on her door,” Kara rushed to explain, not sure if she should be more shocked that her sister would think that she would hurt Lena or that Alex was worried about Lena and not finding a reason to blame her like she usually did.

“Did she do something to you?”

 _Well so much for that._ Kara sighed as Alex slipped back into blaming Lena.

“Alex! No! It was all on me! I just went there to talk to her but then I saw her… and she looked… and, Rao! The way her necklace looked… and I…”

“Okay, okay,” Alex snapped her fingers in front of Kara’s eyes. “I get it, she looked and her necklace… Wait, what was it about her necklace? What was it like?”

Kara blushed as she mumbled out a description of Lena’s necklace and fumbled over a way not to describe how Lena’s cleavage had looked framing it.

“Pink?”

“Yes?”

“Ya know… I hate to bring this up,” mostly because she knew that Kara would more than likely defend the woman she had been kissing, “but Kal had a run in with pink kryptonite once.”

“Alex, it wasn’t kryptonite!”

“How do you know that, huh? Lena made green before and god only knows how many kinds Lex made, I swear he had a whole rainbow at one point. Maybe Lena branched out too.”

“To what aim, Alex?”

“Well, you know what effect it had on Kal—”

“Alex, there was something about pink-K that Kal never revealed to anyone other than me.”

“What?” Alex eyed her sister cautiously.

“Well, the thing with pink is that it’s like red, it only amplifies what’s already there. Red brought all hated and disquiet to the surface and pink just releases control on sexuality. It doesn’t change straight people gay. But anyway that wasn’t pink-K!”

“Wait! So Kal and James? And you and… But you keep telling me you’re not a lesbian.”

“I’m not!”

“So help me, if this is a label thing I will slap the hell out of you the next time we train together!”

“It’s not! On Krypton there was just no need for labels so I don’t see my sexuality that way. On Krypton people just loved who they wanted to and when it was time for children the matrix was used to pick out the best genetic pairing.” Kara paused, fighting back the warring feeling of loss and sorrow that always welled up when she thought about Krypton and the newer feelings that came about knowing that there was a part of it that had survived. “When I first came to Earth,” she continued, “along with having to unlearn everything I knew about science to fit with what was known here, I had to unlearn everything about sexuality to fit in at school. Remember Brittney?”

“Yeah,” Alex sighed as she recalled how the girl a couple of years above her had been ostracized and bullied when she had been seen kissing another girl. Midvale, as much as she loved the place now, hadn’t exactly been the most progressive of places growing up and she couldn’t help but wonder if she wouldn’t have worked out her own sexuality sooner if her peers had been more open and understanding.

“I didn’t want to stand out any more than I already did. And it wasn’t like it was possible to be with anyone anyway… It took me so long to work up the courage to pet a cat or even hug someone… could you imagine what might have happened if… well, you know?” She grimaced as she remembered Lena’s dress and the bite she had left on her. “If you want labels though then I guess if I was human then the nearest would be bisexual or pansexual… But, as I’m a Kryptonian and I like humans too, I guess that would make me omnisexual.”

“Okay. That doesn’t mean that Lena wasn’t using pink-K though,” Alex challenged, her hackles rising at the thought.

“It does because I didn’t feel any different than I usually do around Lena,” Kara blushed. “Granted, it probably wasn’t the best time to do it—”

“You think? Are you a terrible kisser?”

“Alex!”

“I mean, on a scale of one to ten, how mad was Lena when you left? God, she’s probably already got her lawyers poised to sue us or put the kind of restraining order on us that will mean we’ll have to relocate and live with your mom on Argo!”

Groaning anew, Kara slumped down on the couch and buried her face in her hands again to muffle her distressed moan.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And this is the chapter that contained my original bit of musing...
> 
> "What is Kara saw Lena wearing a pink necklace (really it's just a pink diamond) that she thought was pink-k and just decided to let all her feelings out?"
> 
> Of course, my smutty musings never stay small, or terribly smutty, and it's exploded into this :p


	6. Chapter 6

Lena resolutely dragged her eyes away from her office window, her lips thinning as she realised that, once again, her gaze had been drawn to follow the all too familiar streak of red and blue as Supergirl flashed across the skyline at a speed that spoke of trouble for someone somewhere.

At least she wasn’t heading her way… at least this time. In the three hours since she had taken her rightful place back behind her desk at L-Corp, Lena had seen Supergirl fly past ten times already and six of those time, Supergirl had flown closer as though she was about to land on the balcony as she always had when they had been…

… Whatever it was they had been.

Lena drew herself together determinedly before she could get lost in the past again.

Whatever they had been to each other in whichever persona Kara had paraded before her. Friend? Allies? It was not what Lena had thought. And it was over with! All burnt to ash in a blaze of lies and mistrust.

Lena had not been lying when she had told Supergirl that she didn’t enter into friendships with people that had betrayed her trust. But, she had just never worked out where it left her when it came to Kara and the feelings she had for her when she’d found out they were one and the same.

Really, it was so messed up trying to keep it all straight in her head and she was a genius! Was Kara or Lena the real face of the woman she knew or was there a third side of her that she’d never seen?

One thing that Lena knew though was that although they might have ended not on the best of terms but, the girl of steel had never used her strength against her. Her preferred weapon when it came to her had been words over action and the only physical pain had come because Lena had decided that slapping a walking brick wall was somehow a smart thing to do… _apart from when she bit me._ A tiny voice that sounded just a bit too much like a purred gloat added at the back of Lena’s mind.

Her fingers skimmed over the swell of her breast where only the faintest of discoloured bruises remained, now hidden behind the higher cut of her blouse rather than the SpongeBob band-aid Kara had placed there after kissing her senseless… _and ripping my dress! And, oh,_ _what a kiss!_

Was this was this how the Luthor madness started?

And if whichever one of her so-called friends it was, Lena’s money was on Kate, that had stocked up the first-aid supplies in the penthouse with cartoon band-aids thought they were being funny or were getting to her… they were very much mistaken.

Lena was made of sterner stuff and she had survived boarding school and all that horrors and mean-spirited practical jokes that entailed for the short for her age, pale skinned, dark haired, bastard daughter of Lionel Luthor.

In that environment, she had quickly learned to use her sharp mind to keep ahead of the bullies instead of the Luthor genes. Those had made her almost turn into a bully herself in fifth grade when she had extracted revenge upon Cindy Ryan for stealing her boyfriend and in a manner that she still regretted.

Really, ten years old and she’d found and released the other girl's diary for the whole school to read?

Even in fifth grade, Lena had known that wasn’t an entirely good thing and the fear and loathing on the faces of everyone at the boarding school, even some of the teachers had confirmed her hypothesis. The only positive, if it could be seen as one, was that her actions had Lillian easing up on her dismissive cruelty as they had made her see her as more of a Luthor.

A plume of smoke rising into the air in the area she had seen Supergirl heading had Lena quickly switching to a local news channel on her laptop.

Though, not because she was worried she tried to tell herself as she leaned closer to the screen.

The footage was shaky, the camera operator being jostled by the crowds around him and the police trying to contain them as Supergirl did battle with a huge alien covered in plated armour that glistened like jewels as it grabbed Supergirl by the cape and tossed her into, and through, the side of a building that wobbled alarmingly in protest as the armoured alien followed it up by throwing a police car through the gap in the wall after her.

**********

Gritting her teeth in frustration, Kara carefully pushed the annoyance that was the weight of the vehicle away from her. Dust and debris rained down around her as she moved away from the inner wall she had crashed against and she heard the ominous sounds of creaking and groaning and the smashing of windows as a huge crack started to open up and travel up through the building.

“Supergirl! Are you okay?”

“I’m fine, Alex. I think this building is in a little trouble though.” Which was putting it mildly as the walls were splintering apart in such a way and speed that she couldn’t see a way to brace them to hold it together.

“Not just the building, Supergirl,” Brainy interrupted. “I am currently doing my assigned job and listening in on all the official channels—”

“Brainy!”

“Sorry, Director. Hurrying it up. There are reports that there might still be people within the building.”

Using her x-ray vision, Kara looked up through all the levels of the building, checking all the apartments and then checked outside to see what the alien was doing. Which was moving towards the building to go another round with her.

“I can see six people still inside. I don’t think the building is going to last much longer, not if it gets hit hard again. How far out are you to cause a distraction while I get them out?”

“Nearest vehicle is still five minutes out, Supergirl!”

“The building isn’t going to last that long, Alex!” Lifting her arm, she deflected a piece of the ceiling and the floor above as it crashed down around her.

Taking off, Kara burst back through the hole her body had created, scooping up the advancing alien on the way. Spinning around in the air she hurled him through the air in the direction of the nearby harbour. She knew Alex would have preferred it if she could have incapacitated him where they could get him to lock him away but… there was a greater need right then in the form of the six people still stuck in the building.

Using her x-ray vision, Kara flew around the outside of the building. Breaking in where the windows hadn’t already shattered, she rushed in. Scooping up the people still inside she deposited them one at a time into the care of the police, firefighters and paramedics waiting outside until there was just one more left to save.

Kara flew inside, feeling the building starting to collapse around her as she went through the window. With no time to waste, she burst through the walls and doors that stood in her way until she reached the small bedroom and found the crib.

Oh so gently, Kara picked up the baby within and carefully wrapped it up in her cape to protect her little lungs from the falling dust and debris.

“It’s okay, little one, I’ve got you.”

A thunderous crack came from above. Almost deafening its intensity, Kara was startled into immobility as the building started to collapse from above floor by floor and the floor she was standing on fell away from beneath her feet.

**********

Lena’s fingers dug into the arms of her chair, her eyes growing wider and wider in fear as on the screen she heard and saw the building collapsing. Screams rang out from the crowds and a strange silence seemed to settle over the area as a cloud of dust billowed outwards to obscure the picture.

“No… Oh god, no…”

Lena covered her mouth with a trembling hand, panic flooding her even though there was a part running through all she knew about Kara’s— about Supergirl’s strengths and powers.

The building hadn’t been that big… seven or eight floors… One of Morgan Edge’s development projects to house the less wealthy! It was basically a slum and Lena wouldn’t put it past that insufferable bastard to have cut corners in construction to save money! Supergirl was more than capable of surviving the collapse of the building though… Unless her powers had blown out for some reason!

Through the clearing dust, Lena saw the moment a figure in red and blue burst out through the remains of the building and alighted next to a fireman. The camera shook alarmingly but she saw as Supergirl unwrapped her cape and gently handed a tiny baby over to the fire chief.

Lena closed her laptop on the shot of Supergirl standing there, her hair somehow still managing to gleam in the sun despite the thick dust in it, her hands planted on her hips in typical hero pose.

Turning her chair to face the window, Lena watched at Supergirl took to the air once more and rocketed across the skyline back in the direction of the building the DEO used. She stopped midway, her body righting itself in mid-air as she hovered and turned her way.

Lena stepped back from the window, her heart suddenly pounding but not in fear.

“Don’t—” she whispered softly. She wasn’t using the dampening device to hide her heartbeat anymore and, assuming that Kara had picked up on it, then it was also safe to assume that she could hear her whisper too.

“Ms Luthor, Mr Lockwood has arrived.”

Lena turned and pressed the intercom button on her sleek phone. “Show him in please, Jess.” She’d looked away for no more than five seconds but when she looked by at the sky, it was clear of troublesome ex-friends.

“Mr Lockwood,” rounding her desk, Lena held out a hand, feeling it gripped firmly. “So nice to finally meet you.”

“And you, Ms Luthor.”

“Please, call me Lena.”

“Only if you call me Ben,” he smiled as he took the offered seat across from the white desk. His eyes drifted over her shoulder to the view she had across the city and the plume of smoke still rising up from the building he had seen destroyed on the news playing out on the TV in the reception area.

Lena felt a chill run through her deep enough to stiffen her muscles as she looked at the man across from her. On the surface he was handsome enough; nice face, good bone structure. But as he looked beyond her, and she knew full well what he was looking at, she saw something in his eyes that stripped away all his humanity.

Knowing what she did, what they suspected of him, Lena had to will a smile onto her face as he turned his attention back on her. She tried to tell herself that it was no different than when she had to deal with any one of the troublesome, backstabbing members of the board or rival businessman but the look in his eyes was darker, more dangerous.

“More aliens causing trouble for National City.”

“Surely trouble is par for the course anywhere.”

“But… Especially where those from Krypton reside, wouldn’t you agree?”

Sitting back in her chair, Lena gestured for him to continue, hoping that he would reveal more.

“Metropolis is held up as a shining example around the world of how good it is to live under the rule of Superman and yet in truth, crime is at an all-time high there.”

“Which Superman puts a stop to.”

“Oh, the bigger crime, yes. Those worthy enough of the attention of our alien gods… The ones that are important enough to ensure time on the news and give him good press so that people will be more willing to fawn over him and kiss his cape. The petty crime goes unpunished. The muggings and robberies, the jobs and housing being stolen out from under the deserving.”

That he considered the job and housing problems in Metropolis to be because of aliens, Lockwood left unspoken but Lena knew that was what really getting at. “My mother and Lex always believed that Superman’s presence would lead to greater threats. Some would say though that the threats were always coming and that they protect us from them.”

“It would be better if we could protect ourselves. And who’s to say that one day that the threat to humanity won’t come from one of them?”

Lena didn’t turn her head at the pointed, accusatory gesture of his hand. She could see clearly enough in the reflections around the room which caped hero had just streaked across the skyline and caused the twisted grimace on Lockwood’s face.

“It was that kind of dangerous thinking that led to my brother’s… mental _decline_ , Mr Lockwood. And that led to the deaths of a lot of innocent people—”

“Including my wife, Ms Luthor. She was one of the ones that believed in the good of them and she paid for it with her life and I was left to care for our two children. While I do not approve of how your brother handled the situation, I understand what drove him to act that way and I bear no ill will towards him or anyone bearing the name Luthor.”

Lena felt her heart kick into overdrive, fear for herself racing through her as the mention of her brother seemed to bring out a hatred in his eyes that rivalled what he obviously felt for Kryptonian’s and became laser focussed upon her. It sent her hand inching towards the drawer where she kept a small stun gun just in case.

The last time she had needed to use one to protect herself, Kara had come to her rescue, literally in the nick of time as she had caught her moments before her body could hit the unforgiving ground after her mother’s goons had managed to accidentally tip her over the edge of the balcony that stood right behind her.

Lena didn’t _think_ that Lockwood would risk revealing just how insane she had the feeling he was by throwing her off the balcony but she wasn’t going to give him the chance either.

“I’m afraid that I’m going to have to cut this short, Mr Lockwood—”

“Ben!”

“Ben.” Needing to put space between them, Lena moved around the edge of the desk in the hopes of reaching the double doors and the safety of Jess and the people beyond them. “I’ve got a regular lunch appointment that I just can’t put off.”

“Oh, that’s a shame,” he stood up as she did, blocking her way and grabbing her arm as she moved around the desk to escort him out. “I was hoping that maybe we could have lunch together and continue our _discussion_ —”

Lena looked towards the door as it suddenly swung open quite forcefully. The mental note she was making to give Jess another rise for a timely assist stuttered to a halt at the sight of Kara striding towards her, the cape and super suit were gone in favour of her ‘normal’ mild-mannered reported disguise, complete with dark-rimmed glasses and the shy smile that had won Lena’s heart.

“Kara!?”

Arms enveloped Lena, easing her into the warmth and strength of Kara’s body in a way that was so familiar and so loved that she found herself instinctively responding and returning it. With her heels on she was just a little bit taller than Kara in her sensible flat shoes but those arms always made her feel smaller, protected… loved.

Burying her face against Kara’s shoulder, Lena breathed in the scent that was cleaner and softer than it had the right to be for someone that had been buried under the full weight of a building.

Warmth rose within her as they drew apart and she swore she felt the corner of Kara’s mouth graze softly across hers in a way that felt very deliberate rather than accidental.

“You didn’t forget our lunch date again did you, Lena?” Keeping a hand on the small of Lena’s back, Kara turned her gaze and tightly clenched jaw upon the man that had had Lena’s heartbeat going through the roof in a fear she had heard from all the way across the city. “She gets so caught up in work sometimes and I have to drag her away to make sure she eats.”

“Mr Lockwood, this is my fr- this is Kara Danvers, she’s one of the best reporters in National City.”

Kara pushed her glasses back up her nose as the familiar introduction was delivered without the usual pride or beaming smile from Lena. Playing her role though, she held out a hand to Benjamin Lockwood and resisted to urge to use more of her strength than she should to pay him back for scaring Lena. “Mr Lockwood, maybe we could arrange an interview for while you’re in town?”

“Unfortunately, the next couple of weeks are going to be very busy.” Far too busy to be interviewed by an alien-loving reporter! He almost decided to just walk away and abandon his plans for Lena Luthor if this was the company she still kept but a glimpse of something in her eyes as she looked at the reporter stopped him. Reaching into his jacket, he pulled out a neatly folded pamphlet and handed it to her. “For tonight if you can make it. I’m afraid that no reporters are allowed, Ms Danvers.”

Kara simply pasted a fake smile on her face as she quickly scanned the information on the leaflet in Lena’s hand, carefully taking note of the times and locations on it. Information that would be useful for the DEO in tracking what he and his group were doing. And, if Lena planned on going, Supergirl would be there too. There was no way Kara was letting he be around him.

“Ms Luthor, Ms Danvers, your lunch is here, I’ll see Mr Lockwood out and set it up for you.”

“That’s okay Jess, I’ll see to the food,” Kara quickly offered with a grateful smile at Lena’s assistant as she took the plated meals from her. The look she got back was loud and clear… ‘DON’T YOU DARE HURT HER!’ and Kara could only hope that the small nod she gave back was reassuring enough as Jess just about restrained herself from frogmarching Lockwood out of Lena’s office.

Once Jess was gone though, Kara was all too aware that she was finally alone with Lena… and what she had done the last time that had happened. If her hands hadn’t been full she would have fiddled with her glasses again to hide the direction of her glance but instead, she found herself met with a dark eyebrow climbing above stunning green eyes as her gaze drifted guiltily to where she had bitten Lena.

“It is quite healed.”

“I- erm- Rao.”

Lena wanted to be mad at Kara, in a way she needed to be, but, if she was being honest with herself, much of the anger she’d felt had dulled slightly into understanding and disappointment at the both of them while she was in Gotham… She wasn’t at the point where she was ready to forgive or let her back in, but… Kara had just flown to her rescue again.

“Sit. You might as well. I can smell the potstickers from here and if you don’t eat them they’ll only be thrown away.” There was a time she would have found the way Kara clutched at the plate like she’d threatened to throw away puppies or kittens adorable but Lena just took the other plate from Kara’s hand before she realised she was nearly touching kale and tossed the salad out of the window.

Pulling the chair closer to Lena’s desk, Kara draped her jacket over the back of it and sat down opposite Lena. It felt so familiar, sitting there, plates of food before them… but it also felt so strained and stilted, all the things that needed to be said hanging between them. With her suit on, Kara could face down anything, but right there and then, with Lena’s eyes tossing daggers at her every time she tried to open her mouth, Kara just found herself floundering and poking at the potstickers on her plate.

“I’ve missed you,” she whispered the words softly and hoped that the slight softening in the line of Lena’s shoulders wasn’t just in her imagination.

“Do you always bite the people you’ve missed?”

Kara’s head darted up, a blush stole across her cheeks as her eyes lingered a moment longer than they probably should have on the covered swell of Lena’s breasts before daring to move up to meet her eyes. The trace of soft humour there had Kara blushing even more. “Rao.”

“That is so strange,” Lena whispered half to herself but, of course, Kara heard her clearly.

“What is?”

“Seeing you, like that,” Lena gestured slightly to how very Kara, Kara was looking, “and hearing you speak Kryptonian. It’s like… If I could just close my eyes and forget for a moment I could open them and I would still have my friend sitting before me.”

“It’s all me, Lena. The suit, this. I’m the same person.”

“That’s worse! I wish I’d never gone to see my mother then at least I would have had one of you even if your friendship and trust was all a lie!”

Maybe, Lena realised, she wasn’t as over her anger as she’d thought.

“That’s in the past though. No going back.”

“Lena—”

“This was a mistake. I think you should leave. I don’t want to see you again… Ever!”

Kara’s head dropped, sorrow filling her at Lena’s words. Her eyes falling upon the Children of Liberty pamphlet on the desk before Lena as she started to push the chair back. “You- you’re not thinking of going to that are you?”

“Me? Go to a meeting of a group that spews anti-alien propaganda? Sounds very on-brand to me, darling. I am just a Luthor after all,” Lena gritted out dismissively. If she’d thought it would send Kara out of her office and life quicker, Lena found herself very much wrong as Kara drew back only slightly before stiffening her jaw, Supergirl shining out from behind the glasses and normal clothing on her back as she stepped closer, invading Lena’s space instead of moving away. Kara’s strong hands closed around the tops of her arms with such gentle delicacy as though fearing she would shatter… and feeling them and seeing the caring in Kara’s eyes, Lena felt like she might.

“You _are_ a Luthor. _Lena Luthor_. Stubborn, determined and brilliant and you have _always_ been so much better than Lillian or Lex. I know I said some stupid and hurtful things because I was scared about you making Kryptonite but I will always trust you, Lena.” Gently cupping Lena’s face between her hands, Kara gazed deeply into her eyes, begging her to see the truth in them. “I don’t trust Lockwood… stay away from him, please.”

Once more, Lena was left looking at the empty space where Kara had been standing moments before with a tingle and the taste of Kara’s lipstick on her lips.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN - it really grinds my gears that somehow Kara is able to change into her super suit, complete with cape, shirt and boots, and back again without apparently having anywhere to hide them. But, it does mean I get to play with impossible things like the show does... for example... did Kara bring the potstickers to L-Corp? Does Jess have some on standby just in case? I'll leave it up for you to decide where they and Kara's clothing appeared from ;)


	7. Chapter 7

From her position upon the roof of the thankfully empty ten-story office building, Alex carefully looked down up the entrance of the squatter building of the hotel the Children of Liberty were renting a vast meeting hall to host their recruitment drive… meeting… speech… whatever the hell it was, none of the literature had been all that clear on what it was supposed to be other than private and very exclusive.

Lifting a small but powerful pair of digital binoculars, Alex focussed in upon a car pulling up outside the hotel and snapped a couple of photographs that went straight to the servers at the DEO for identification. Not that they needed to do that with who had just stepped out of the car looking as sleek and polished as ever.

Alex was dressed carefully to blend in with the background, even the binoculars and every possible zipper or clasp on her tactical gear was designed to reflect no light. And yet she found herself holding her breath as Lena finished talking to her surprisingly short and curvy driver and glanced at the rooftops with a small frown marring her brow before plastered a smile on her face that looked professional and fake as hell and turned around as her name was called out.

Alex’s tightly held breath left her in a whoosh and, remembering her job as her body finally relaxed and came back into contact with the roof, she tried to snap a picture of Lena’s driver. It was a different driver than Lena usually used but she’d seemed so familiar with them that Alex decided to cover all the bases and get them checked out too.

The driver was wearing a stereotypical, chauffeurs billed cap, something that Alex had never known Lena’s usual driver to wear. Lena was rich but she never bothered with over-the-top displays of it like that. The cap though was pulled down in such a way that it hid the drivers face, leaving Alex with just a glimpse of jawline from the angle she was at. She snapped a photo but all she could do was hope that someone else in the team was on the ball and had managed to get something they could use.

With no more cars to keep an eye on, Alex turned her attention back on Lena as she moved up the short flight of stairs that led to the entrance of the brightly lit hotel where a middle-aged man wearing an expensive suit greeted her with a handshake.

“I have eyes on the target. Moving into position alpha. Standby for intel.”

“Standing by.”

“Please tell me you did _not_ just refer to Lena as ‘the target’?”

Alex winced at the _almost_ gentle thud of boots coming in to land behind her on the roof. A glance behind revealed her sister standing there, tall and proud, and resplendent in her not at all inconspicuous, red and blue super suit.

“Damn it, Kara! Get down,” Alex hissed out urgently, grabbing Kara’s wrist she tried to pull her out of sight and ended up just dangling off her like she weighed no more than a tiny toddler until Kara relented and crouched down out of sight. “You keep forgetting that the idea of a stakeout is to stay out of sight and dressed like that you don’t exactly blend in.”

“You didn’t answer me, Alex.”

“It’s not what you’re thinking—”

“Oh, then you’re not spying on Lena while she’s at the Children of Liberty’s meeting?”

“Okay, when you say it that way it sounds bad.”

“It is bad, Alex.”

“As bad as nearly knocking my door down and bursting in going, ‘Alex! I kissed Lena again!’?” Alex barely restrained her smirk as Kara’s hands fluttered between pushing up non-existent glasses and tugging at her skirt and fiddling with the edge of her red cape.

Alex had forced her to sit down upon the couch before she wore a hole through her floor and had asked her again and again why she had gone to Lena’s office and kissed her **_again_** and Kara had been unable to give her an answer for the kiss that had satisfied her because she hadn’t been able to put into words how pretty Lena had looked that didn’t end up with Alex making gagging noises and, according to Alex, they hadn’t ‘sorted anything out between them’. Which was true… their words and action still hung between them, poisoning any relationship; friendship or anything _more_ … even more than kryptonite.

The why she had gone there, had been easy. Lena, whether she would have admitted it or not, had needed her. Lockwood had managed, just by being in her office, to do something Kara had only known imminent death to do… he had scared Lena.

In fact, there had been less fear in Lena’s heartbeat when she had been trapped in a falling plane full of chemicals and had asked her to let her go rather than risk the water being poisoned.

Kara had _had_ to respond to the fear in Lena’s heart and remove what was scaring her. It was as simple as that.

“I can’t believe she’s gone in there after how that creep made her feel. Why would she do that, Alex?” Peering over the edge of the roof, mindful of anyone looking her way and Alex’s glower when she rose too high, Kara used her x-ray vision to look through the walls of the hotel and tracked Lena’s progress.

“Maybe she’s just not the person you- we, thought she was.”

“No,” Kara clenched her jaw, working it from side to side in defiance of Alex’s words. “Something is going on Alex, I know it. Lena wouldn’t change like that.”

“We are talking about a woman that created an alien detection device.”

“That is now being used exclusively by hospitals to check only for certain aliens that would be poisoned by human medicines.”

“Very noble of her.” And it was. As was her refusal to allow a more general screening method to be allowed into the hands of the public or even law enforcement agencies. Even the DEO had been denied but Alex wasn’t sure if that wasn’t more to do with Lena’s feeling towards them. “And the kryptonite she was synthesising?”

“That was to help Sam. I hate that she made it without saying anything, but if she hadn’t, we wouldn’t have been able to take Reign down.”

“You forgive her?”

“I want to work through it with her Alex. I miss my friend.”

“Friend, huh? Sure, Jan.” Even in the darkness, Alex could see the blush colouring her sister’s cheeks. “Just promise me no more kissing on Lena until you get things sorted, Kar. No! Don’t you turn that pout on me! I mean it! Taking her last name out of this… Lena knows how to make kryptonite and has those shield things that hurt you and she’s fallen in with all kinds of shady things since she left… including maybe having something to do with the death of a reporter that was following her. And!” Alex interrupted as Kara opened her mouth to speak, “right now she’s in there with people that hate aliens and they all think she’s one of them.”

“Then they’re wrong! Lena isn’t like that,” Kara hissed even as she desperately hoped that she wasn’t wrong. Lena had a way of surprising her but surely not in this way?

“Well, now you’ve delayed me in moving into position, how about a lift over to the hotel roof?” With the glint in Kara’s eyes, Alex was half prepared for her sister to just launch her over the gap but instead, Kara obligingly flew her over, even going as far as to make sure no one was watching or saw them land as she touched down on the roof.

“Are you going inside?”

“As much as I can, yeah,” Alex whispered as she made her way to the roof door. “We managed to get surveillance set up inside but just in case they’ve got any fancy dampeners off Lena… or anyone else, I want eyes and ears on that room so we know what they’re doing.”

“I’m coming with you.”

Alex was pretty sure that Kara wanted to go for Lena more than anything but she could tell by the stubborn set of Kara’s jaw and the way her arms were folded that there would be no talking her out of going.

“Fine, come on then. Most of the guests at the hotel are to do with the Children of Liberty so we should have a clear shot through. The meeting is taking place on the first floor. Ready?”

Nodding, Kara followed Alex through the door.

As Alex had expected, the hotel's hallways were clear of people to the point that she wondered if Lockwood had paid the staff to leave and shut the whole building down. It was good news for them though as they quickly made their way down to the meeting hall and managed to sneak inside through a staff entrance that led to a small room that looked like it had been used once upon a time for using a movie projector before the meeting even started.

The meeting hall was in almost complete darkness as Kara looked out through a small window that overlooked the room while Alex quickly set up a camera to record everything she could. Like they were drawn to her, Kara’s eyes fell upon Lena seated at the front. Her shoulders were set in a tense line and she could hear her heartbeat ringing out in a nervous beat as it thudded against her ribs.

The nervous beat of Lena’s heart increased as lights came up at the front of the room in an overly dramatic fashion and Lockwood took centre stage followed seconds later by the shiny armour suited figure of Agent Liberty himself.

At her side, Kara could hear Alex’s movements, the beat of her heart and the rustle of her clothing as she shifted and took pictures and extra video and sent them to the DEO so they could get a real-time idea of what was going on. Kara’s own attention was divided between Lena, Lockwood, and Agent Liberty. The later who stood so very still upon the stage, the only sign of life or movement coming in the occasional movement of his head while the founder of the Children of Liberty paced back and forth across the stage, all attention on him and the words pouring out of his mouth.

Lockwood was a compelling speaker if the number of cheers and applause that seemed to pour from the crowd every time he drew breath was any indication but Kara was just sickened by the barely veiled implications beneath his words; the call to arms against aliens and every other group of people that Lockwood seemed to have an issue with.

Tramping down on her own reaction to his inflammatory words, Kara focussed instead on everyone else’s response to them. At her side, she heard the grinding of Alex’s teeth increase as Lockwood turned his vile rhetoric briefly away from aliens to humans to attack race and sexuality.

“Alex, can’t we just—?”

“Freedom of speech, Kar,” Alex gritted out bitterly. “We’ll give it to the lawyers to check but as far as I can tell he’s not actually saying anything we can do anything about.” It hurt though, GOD, it hurt to have to even be there listening to him. And worse was seeing how many people there, educated people with wealth and power, agreed with him.

With her friends and family supporting her and who she was so easily, it had created a bubble around her that had made her believe that people were changing and becoming more accepting but right there and then, she felt vulnerable, scared, and so very alone.

Kara looked at her sister, frowning as she sensed the change in her emotions by the way her breathing changed and her heart sped up in the same way that Lena’s was. “Are you okay, Alex?”

“I’ll just be glad when we live in a world where views like this are in the past and don’t get the kind of cheers this creep is getting.” Alex gestured out to the audience as the broke out into applause at whatever venom Lockwood was spewing.

Kara followed her gesture, her eyes landing instinctively upon Lena. Anyone that knew her only in passing would have seen Lena’s usual, cool and calm façade but Kara knew Lena and saw her clearly. And with where she was sitting, Kara could see the tenseness reaching almost breaking point in her jaw and saw the way her green eyes; dark in the dim light flicker across the crowd like she was weighing up potential threats.

“What is it with that Agent Liberty too?” Alex frowned. “It can’t be easy standing there in all that gear but I’ve seen more movement from a statue.”

“You’ve seen a statue move?”

Alex rolled her eyes as Kara’s brow crinkled in confusion. “I was just— Never mind.” Maybe she could have some fun with her one day and get her to watch the ‘Weeping Angel’ episodes of Doctor Who. Until then though, they had more important things to be doing.

**********

After Lockwood finished his speech, Lena excused herself as quickly as she could… which wasn’t all that quickly at all given that everyone seemed to want to shake her hand and have a word with her to congratulate her on ‘seeing the light’ when it came to the alien menace.

Lena looked at everyone carefully, making sure to get them committed to memory and caught on tiny camera hidden in a pin on her jacket so she could sever any business or personal ties with them as soon as possible.

Seeing Lockwood making his way across the room with Agent Liberty at his side, Lena hurried her steps and prayed that he would get delayed so she could make her escape. She was convinced more than ever that she never wanted to be anywhere near him… not even in a room full of people.

As she exited the hotel she looked around for her car and Maggie and her ridiculous hat. Well, at first she had thought it just a joke but the glimpse of red and blue on the roof opposite the hotel had proved Maggie and Kate to be right, the DEO, or at least Supergirl, were keeping an eye on things… or maybe just on her.

“Leaving so soon, Ms Luthor?”

“I’m afraid so, Mr Lockwood. I allowed things with L-Corp to slip too far while I was away and taking back the reigns requires all my spare time.”

“I was hoping we might be able to have a talk about developing some new technology that might be useful to L-Corp and the Children of Liberty.”

“If you contact my assistant I’m sure we’ll be able to arrange something.”

Flashing him when she hoped was a smile and not the grimace of distaste she was truly feeling, Lena, sighed inwardly in relief as she saw her car rounding the corner.

Her relief was short-lived though when she belatedly realised there was a masked figure standing in her way with an alien looking gun swinging towards her. Lena froze, everything she had learned from Maggie and Kate flying straight out of her head as the muzzle of the weapon flashed brightly and a red beam shot out.

Lena felt the heat of it as it passed right by her, burning across the top of her right arm. She heard herself cry out at the pain from the burn and her body meeting the concrete as she fell to the side.

Not meant for her, the beam carried on its lethal path and struck harmlessly against Agent Liberty’s armour as he stepped in front of Lockwood and shielded him before taking off into the air after the escaping attacker.

Lena felt strangely numb to everything, the sound of everything around her muffled and distant as Maggie pulled her up off the ground and bundled her into the back of the car. Before the door closed out every last bit of sound, she heard Lockwood already ranting to anyone that would listen about the alien menace and how threatened they were by him and the truth he spoke.

“You hanging in there, Lena?” Getting no answer, Maggie bellowed her name over and over as she worked her way through traffic until startled green eyes finally focussed on her.

“I’m sorry… what?”

Pulling the car over in the shelter of a quiet alley, Maggie grabbed the first-aid kit from under the seat and climbed into the back with Lena. “Hey,” cupping her jaw, she turned her to look at her. “Speak to me, Lena. Are you okay?”

“Yeah… well, apart from my arm stinging like a bitch,” she grimaced as she looked down at her scorched dress. “National City is bad for my wardrobe.”

“Lena, I refuse to laugh when you just got shot!”

“Strange, ‘cause I plan on laughing a lot… probably when I get a couple of drinks in me to numb the pain,” she winced, her stomach rolling at the waft of scorched flesh as Maggie carefully, but not carefully enough, peeled the burnt fabric away from her burnt flesh. “I’d forgotten how much fun all the assassination attempts were. Would have been kind of ironic in a sad kind of way if the one to end me was the only one that wasn’t meant for me.”

“Don’t get all dramatic on me, Luthor, it’s just a scratch.” Maggie still winced as she gently cleaned it and got a better look though. There was very little bleeding but her skin was red and angry looking where the weapon had burned away layers of flesh. “I’ll take you to the hospital just to be safe though.”

“God, no! The last thing I need is for the press to catch wind of this! They’re be declaring my death and celebrating by the evening news! Just patch me up, if it looks no better by the morning I’ll call on someone a doctor I can trust to keep their mouth shut.”

“You could always make use of one of the Danvers sisters,” Maggie teased gently to distract Lena while she gently wrapped her arm.

“Pretty sure that Kara—”

“Hmm, strange how your mind went _straight_ to Kara and not Alex who is trained in medicine—”

“You mean the one that would have me locked up in a cell at the DEO given half a chance—”

“So I guess you would rather have Kara kiss it better, huh?”

“I am regretting telling you anything, Sawyer.”

“I’m sure you are,” Maggie grinned. “There, that should hold for now. I’ll get you home and go round up Kane.”

“Where is she anyway?”

“She said she was feeling too antsy and wanted to go prowl.”

“She’s gone out in her suit hasn’t she?” Lena sighed. “Someone is going to see her and then everyone is going to wonder what Batwoman is doing here and not in Gotham.” Laying her head back against the seat, Lena closed her eyes and tried to will the throbbing in her arm to subside as Maggie climbed back behind the wheel and started the engine.

“Speaking of on the prowl.”

“Hmm?” Cracking open her eyes, Lena followed the direction of Maggie’s gaze and looked out and up to where Supergirl was flying once more.

“Don’t worry, got all the measures in place so she can’t hear us,” Maggie quickly assured Lena as she saw her going to reach for the control panel in the back. “Not that she doesn’t know where to find you if she wants another smooch,” she waggled her eyebrows as Lena’s eyes shot down from looking up at the sky to meet hers.

“Sawyer!”

**********

Taking advantage of the guard’s lack of attention, Kara made her way into the elevator without challenge and pressed the button for the top floor. It would have been quicker to just fly up, and if it came to it she would, but she didn’t want Lena to feel pressured.

She was just visiting as a friend.

Checking on her after hearing about what happened.

Not checking on her because she had been there spying.

Not checking on her because she felt guilty and angry in equal measures because she hadn’t been close enough to protect her because of said not spying.

No, she was just a friend, visiting with a bag of doughnuts.

Kara clasped the white bag closer, trying not to crush the contents as the elevator let out a DING to let her know she had arrived. The sight of the brand new doors guarding the entrance to the penthouse almost had her tripping over her own feet but this time she measured her knock just right.

Getting no answer to her knocks, Kara gave the new handle a swift twist. She winced at the crunch and grind from within the door as what was no doubt an expensive locking mechanism that bolted the door into floor and frame simply crumpled. Kara expected the damage to property to bring Lena down on her like a furious angel, and she would have welcomed it as a sign that her friend was okay, but there were no shouts of anger and the beating heart she could hear within was still beating with the same rhythm that Kara associated with unhappiness and stress with Lena.

“Lena… I’m sorry about the door… again,” Kara called out quietly as she stepped into the darkened penthouse. She followed the beat of Lena’s heart and the flickering lights and found Lena standing quietly in the living room, her body bathed in the glow coming from the TV’s she was staring at.

Even though she was concerned, especially when she caught sight of a bandage peeking out from the sleeve of her silk top. Kara drank her in while Lena was apparently distracted looking at a bank of screens that rivalled the ones in James’ office while she had the chance.

Lena had clearly changed her clothes but, despite the late hour, Lena was still dressed as though she was ready to head into a meeting at any moment apart from the fact that her hair was down, curling around her shoulders in loose, touchable looking waves, and her feet were bare.

A glass of red wine sat forgotten next to a half empty bottle on the table before the couch, a stain of dark red lipstick upon the edge where Lena had drunk from it that had Kara’s lips tingling to taste from the source.

“Have you ever watched these before, Kara?”

Realising how distracted she had become, Kara nervously and needlessly pushed her glasses up her nose and fixed her gaze upon the screens. Each one of which showed different men speaking to crowds. One of the ones on the smaller screens she recognised because she had born witness to some of the speech for herself, and the one dominating the largest screen she vaguely knew from school. “That’s…”

“Hitler,” Lena finished for her as she turned the sound up on the screen so she could better here the way he spoke and the response of the crowds. “He was quite mad and twisted in his views… as many of them were, but he was quite the speaker. Lex and Lillian used to listen to his speeches all the time,” she grimaced at the memory. “Thankfully I was spared that.”

“Why are you watching them?”

“Comparing them to our new ‘friend’ Lockwood. The way he speaks is so similar don’t you think?” With a deft click of the controls, Lena brought the two speeches up side by side. “All of these, even Hitler, got as far as they did because they knew how to speak… how to work a crowd by telling them exactly what they needed, what they wanted, to hear. They know what fears to prey on; jobs; security; health; terrorism… They lure them in with buzzwords and throw in facts that speak the truth to those that want to hear. Everyone sees the footage of Hitler and dismisses it. Maybe because they don’t know how to speak German or because they know from history that he was evil. But he was extremely charismatic…”

Slowly moving closer, half afraid that one wrong move might trigger her into… something, Kara looked at Lena’s profile rather than the screens. “Lena?”

“All these others, even Lockwood… Especially Lockwood, they are just as dangerous, Kara. He had those people foaming at the mouth with anger over everything from jobs to the queer community, immigrants and especially aliens. All of who I support, and yet I still _felt_ it… the anger, the hatred… inside _me_ ,” she finished on a whisper of self-loathing.

Kara gently took the control device out of Lena’s clenched fist and shut off all the screens. The look in Lena’s eyes was haunting as she gently turned her around, forcing her to take her eyes off the now blank screens. “Lena, you are nothing like Lex or Lillian,” she whispered softly. “You are good and kind—”

Lena felt the first sting of tears at Kara’s gentle touch upon her cheek and the quiet conviction in her voice. But overlaying it she heard the stinging accusations of not only Kara but of so many. “You don’t believe that, no one does.”

“What?”

“Any of it. You think I’m just like them. And… maybe I am. You need to leave!” Stepping back away from the warmth and offered sanctuary of Kara’s body, Lena pointed towards the door in an effort to get regain control of herself and the situation. “Now, Kara! Get out!”

“Lena—” Kara resisted slightly, letting Lena move her slowly as though she was human instead of holding her ground.

“And stop breaking my doors!” Lena huffed at the sight of the twisted handle.

“Listen to me! Please,” she finished softly. “I know I have no right to tell you what to do… and I’m not,” Kara added quickly as Lena’s eyebrow started to arch upwards dangerously. “You already know that Lockwood is bad news, I know you do,” she gestured towards the TV’s and skimmed the tips of her fingers across the edge of the bandage on Lena’s arm. “I don’t want you to get hurt again. Please, Lena, stay away from him.”

“God! That felt good to let loose!”

Kara spun around on her heel, placing herself between Lena and the figure that burst through the door in a swirl of black and red with a familiar shaped symbol upon their… her chest.

“Oh, crap,” Kate froze, her body coming to a complete halt at the unexpected sight of the blonde standing before her.

“Ooff!” Letting out a startled grunt, Maggie slapped at Kate’s shoulder with one hand and checked her smooshed face from where she had collided into her friend with the other. “For god’s sake, a little warning before you put on the brakes like that!”

“Maggie?!”

For one brief second, Maggie wondered if it wasn’t too late to beat a hasty retreat for the door but with a sigh, she stepped out from behind the shelter of Kate’s body and grinned at the confused looking Kryptonian. “Hey, Little Danvers!”

Kara looked between the three women, trying to piece together just how in the hell Batwoman, Maggie Sawyer and her Lena… _Wait! What?_ … Were all somehow in the same place and all looking quite sheepish about it too… apart from Batwoman, she was actually looking like she was anticipating whatever was coming next.

Hands on hips, Kara turned fully around to face the woman at her back. “Lena?”

Lena straightened up as Kara’s voice came out just subtly deeper, stronger and more demanding… All Supergirl. Folding her arms she glared up at the taller woman and actually missed the extra height the ridiculous heels of her Louboutin’s gave her in a way she never did even when going up against the most obnoxious and overbearing member of the board or even her overly tall mother.

There was a subtle shift in Kara, a relaxing of her features and stance, Lena couldn’t even place what it was for sure or if maybe it wasn’t really in herself... but the fight went out of her with the realisation that the game was up and she could relax. “Yeah… I know you hate secrets so I guess it’s time I came clean.”

“I’m calling Alex.”

Maggie tried not to groan as Kara took her phone out of her pocket even though she knew that facing her ex-fiancée had been inevitable from the moment they had decided to come to National City.

“While you do that, I’m going to get changed.” Smirking at the pleading looks directed her way by Maggie and Lena, Kate skirted around the blonde with maybe just a hint of a dramatic swish of her cape and a blatant lesbian salute of two fingers to her temple that made them glower more and earned her a crinkled brow from the Kryptonian.

“Kara,” Lena cautiously touched her wrist and planted her feet determinedly against the urge to back up away from the look directed at her. “I’ll explain everything, even to Alex… but not at the DEO. Please trust me,” she implored as Kara looked ready to deny her request.

As she looked into the brilliant green of Lena’s eyes, watching as they shifted colour with the lights reflected within them, Kara found herself nodding in assent, her heart soaring as Lena graced her with a smile.

“Alex—”

“I’m going to get changed too.” Not giving Kara time to say she couldn’t, Lena made her way quickly towards her bedroom. She was used to dressing in the finest while doing business… almost as a shock and awe tactic but neither Kara or Alex would give a damn what she was wearing so she figured she might as well go for comfort for what was bound to be an uncomfortable meeting… Especially as Alex would probably try to lock them up as soon as she could.

“I’m going to get a drink,” Maggie mumbled. Making her way to the extensive bar, she wondered if there was any chance she could find any alien strength alcohol lurking at the back… sure, a good deal of it was pretty lethal to humans but if Alex was coming it might just be worth the risk.

“Kara?”

Kara turned her attention back to her phone and her impatient sister. “Sorry, Alex, I got distracted. Could you meet me at Lena’s apartment?”

“Are you okay? Do I need to bring back up? Blink twice for no… what am I saying?”

“Have you been drinking?”

“Just started my first beer,” Alex grumbled defensively. “It’s just been a long day and I’m tired. Now, do I need to come in with guns blazing or not?”

“Rao, no! Just bring yourself… by cab, I’ll get you home after.”

“First drink—”

“But you’re tired and I think you’ll need to be as rested as you can be when you get here.”

“Are you sure I don’t need a weapon? ‘Cause you really sound like I should bring a weapon.”

“No weapons. No backup. They want to talk but… not at the DEO.”

“They?”

“Lena.”

“You said they.”

“Alex! Please! Oh, Rao…” she whispered reverently, her phone nearly falling from her grasp as Lena came back into the room.

As clothes went, what she was wearing was nothing special, but there was just something about seeing Lena in leggings and the old college sweatshirt she had borrowed from her, that made her want to puff out her chest even as she felt all swishy and warm inside.

“Kara!?”

“Erm… yeah… get a cab…” Kara hung up the call with a distracted swipe of her thumb that almost cracked the screen of her phone. “You… look… is that my sweatshirt?”

Lena looked down, only then realising what she had put on by instinct. When she had found out the truth about Kara and Supergirl being one and the same she had wanted to throw it away but as soon as her hands had touched the off-white sweatshirt she had found herself crying into the faded college logo and breathing in the scent of Kara still ingrained in it from their last movie night. It had been her comfort, and quite often nightwear ever since. “I- yes it is. I would offer it back but I told you when you first let me wear it that I was keeping it.”

Ducking her head, Kara smiled despite herself as Lena crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow challengingly. It probably wouldn’t go down too well if she let on that Lena looked as adorable right then as a floofed up kitten, but she really did look adorable. “It looks better on you,” she whispered against her ear instead. The hitch in Lena’s breathing in response, the raising of her heartbeat were quiet but all so perfectly clear to Kara, as was the widening of her pupils as her eyes darted to meet her own before they dropped down to her lips.

As Kara walked away, Lena picked up the glass of wine she had abandoned earlier with a trembling hand and finished it in an inelegant, hurried swallow.

“You are so screwed, Lena,” Kate whispered softly against her ear.

“No, I’m not,” she hissed back through gritted teeth as she tried not to watch Kara making her way over to Maggie.

“But you want to be,” Kate sing-songed back, dancing out of the reach before Lena could land a blow. At Lena’s grumbled ‘fuck you’, she darted back and pressed an unexpected kiss to the telling flag of Lena’s colour still riding high upon the silky softness of Lena’s cheek. As she did so, Kate met Kara’s eyes across the room and saw them flash like she was giving serious thought to melting her on the spot.

Someone was definitely jealous.

“This is going to be so much fun,” she grinned in anticipation.

 


	8. Chapter 8

Kara kept a watchful eye on Alex while she checked over the scorch mark the alien weapon had left across Lena’s bicep. Not because she didn’t trust her sister to do a good job because she knew she would. But the simple, or not so simple, fact that Maggie Sawyer was sitting in the same room as her big sister, had had Alex looking flustered and shell-shocked at the same time from the moment she had entered the penthouse and seen them.

Which Kara could understand, it had to be strange seeing her after they had broken up. But there was more going on in that look. There had to be as Kara had thought that they had left on as good of terms as they could and yet Maggie was kind of glowering at Alex in a way that Kara read more like anger and disappointment than what she would have seen from her all business, cop face.

A gasp of pain from Lena had Kara fixing a glower of her own upon Alex.

“Sorry,” Alex muttered softly to Lena as she adjusted her hold on her arm so as not to pull on the tender burnt skin. “Kara, sit down or something for god’s sake. You make me nervous when you look at me like you’re going to burn me to a crisp.” Though the real reason for her nervousness was already sitting down, but Alex jumped on the opportunity to deflect for as long as she could.

The room was huge with seating for five times the amount of people there without it getting crowded, but Kara sat down next to Lena, their knees brushing as she turned slightly and offered her hand palm upwards. “In case you need to hold on,” she explained at Lena’s quizzical glance at her hand.

“Kara, I’m not giving birth— Damn it, Alex!” hissing out a pained breath, Lena grabbed for the hand she had been ready to refuse and squeezed as hard as she could as Alex suddenly seemed hell-bent on either punishing her or taking out her frustrations by cleaning the wound with the same amount of care as she would take cleaning rust off a hunk of metal with a wire brush. “What the hell was that for?!”

“There is something stuck in the wound.”

“As deep as you were going I would hazard a guess and say that was my humerus!” Lena gritted out, her voice rising as she yanked her arm away from Alex’s continued probing.

“No… Hold still, Lena!” Catching a metallic glint from where she was sitting, Kate crossed the room and leaned down so she could get a better look. “Shit! There is something there,” holding her friends arm steady, she nodded to Alex as she got a pair of forceps from the medical kit she had brought with her and watched as she pulled out a slither of metal that was just over two inches long but not much thicker than a hair.

“Kar, can you check her wound for me and make sure there’s nothing else?”

“That’s not necessary,” Lena tried to wave them away and reach for her sweatshirt to cover up but she was stopped by the concern in Kate’s eyes and the blue of Kara’s as she moved around to the other side of her.

“Let her do it, Lee. I swear to you, that wasn’t there when I checked you over earlier.”

“And it wasn’t there when I first started checking you either,” Alex stated firmly. “You were hit by an alien weapon and we don’t know what it was or what it could have done.” Looking at Lena right then though, Alex could tell she was pretty much talking to herself as Lena was staring intently at Kara who was pulling her intense ‘I’m x-raying stuff with my eyes’ face. And while Lena was busy, Alex looked at her and how she was studying Kara in a way that was more ‘I want to get you out of your clothes’ than ‘I hate you and want to dissect your corpse’.

Really, with looks like that, it was a wonder the two idiots hadn’t been kissing on each other when they’d first met.

“All clear.” Kara frowned sadly as she looked at how red and inflamed Lena’s arm was looking compared to how it had when Alex had managed to persuade her to unwrap it so she could check it out. She brushed her thumb around the edge of the redness that stood out so starkly against her pale complexion, her touch so light it barely even stirred the downy soft, baby fine hairs there. It was still enough to make Lena flinch and for Kara to feel the unnatural heat radiating from her skin.

Without thinking, Kara blew a gentle stream of cool air across Lena’s flesh, eliciting a soft moan that had Kara wishing she was wearing her glasses just so she could fiddle with them.

“I- what? It looked hot,” she blustered out as she was met by strange looks and raised eyebrows from Alex, Kate and Maggie. Right then, Kara would have preferred to take on a white Martian while solar flaring than look at Lena but, she took a determined breath and met her gaze, catching the edge of a shocked and more than slightly blissed out look on her face before she could hide it. “Did that help?”

Not sure she could speak with how her brain was firing off just where else Kara’s freeze breath might feel good, Lena nodded and moaned anew as another gentle stream of cool breath washed over the too hot area of the wound.

“You said that you didn’t know that the weapon was, does that mean you didn’t get the alien either?”

Alex bristled at the tone in Kate Kane’s voice. Batwoman or not, she didn’t just get to march in unannounced and uninvited and question how they did things. “Oh no, we’re not doing this until I get answers from all of you. Personally, I would prefer that to take place back at the DEO—”

“Not gonna happen, Danvers,” Maggie quickly interrupted.

“Okay,” shooing Kara aside, Alex quickly, but gently as Kara was watching closely ready to glower at her if Lena so much as winced, smoothed some balm over Lena’s wounds. It was already looking much better, the skin around area already returning to a more healthy pink with the removal of the metal and Kara’s freeze breath. Just to be safe though she sealed the area beneath a fresh bandage and then gave her an injection that would help her body to heal. And the fact that that injection had to be given in the butt via a needle that would make King Kong back away in fear was just a bonus.

“I’ll get that piece of metal analysed at the DEO, ASAP—”

“It’ll be quicker if it gets done at L-Corp—”

“No, it won’t. I know you, Lena. What you really mean is that you want to take a look at it right now and work it out yourself. And not only do I want you to rest tonight but that injection is going to kick in soon and you’ll be seeing at least four of everything.”

“You drugged me?!”

“Not for nefarious reasons, Lena,” Alex defended herself from the accusation and the glares coming from Maggie and Kate. “What I gave you was a broad spectrum antibiotic of sorts—”

“Of sorts? What does that mean exactly, Director Danvers?” Lena spat the title back at Alex with all the venom of a curse.

“It’s okay, Lena,” Leaning closer, Kara gently captured Lena’s hands between her own, the soothing motion of her thumbs across the delicate skin breaking Lena away from the building cycle of stubbornness and anger about to play out between her and Alex. “It’s perfectly safe. Just something they use to help fight any infections from contact with foreign bodies… really _foreign_ bodies.”

“You can say alien, Kara.” Sighing softly, Lena sank back into the couch cushions. She tried to claim her hands back but Kara would only allow her one and continued to play with the other, and Lena was too weak to resist. Or maybe she was too drugged?

“Is there any side effects with this? How long have I got before it knocks me out?”

“There should be zero side effects but, if you feel your arm getting warm again I want it looking at just in case there’s any of that metal still in there. As for how long… long enough for you to tell us just what the hell is going on and for me to decide if I’m going to lock you all away for it.”

“Alex!”

“No, Kara. I want answers from them.”

“What do you want to know?”

“Everything.”

“Okay,” Lena crossed her arms defiantly at Alex’s tone… or she would have done if Kara hadn’t still had one hand in hers. “Well, I was born Lena Kieran—”

“Maybe not that much of everything,” Alex rolled her eyes. “How did you three get together? I thought you were going overseas, Sawyer?”

“Nope, I was offered a job in Gotham on a secret task force working on major crimes and all things alien related. Kind of like the DEO but more expansive. It was very hush-hush so for the purposes of everyone here in National City I was going abroad. Good thing I wasn’t though as my passport seemed to get strangely delayed after I asked you to send it to me.”

“Really? Must have got lost in the mail.” Alex tried to feign ignorance about the fact that she knew darn well that she had put the wrong address on the envelope in some weird and pretty stupid attempt to force Maggie into contacting her again, but the look on Maggie’s face said she wasn’t buying it.

“Lost? Not quite, Danvers… But fortunately, the lady whose house it was mailed too handed it in.”

“Well, that was… nice of them.”

“Yeah, it was. I was actually surprised really that you didn’t just shred it and send me the bits in the mail after your last call.”

“What, last call? I never called you.”

“Alcohol makes you do stupid and hurtful things, Danvers. You should be careful of that,” Maggie sneered, barely keeping her anger and disappointment in check now that she was face to face with Alex again. “You drunk called me,” she explained, drawing strength from Kate’s presence and gently touch as she sat down next to her. “The night I sent the text, you called and told me all about your night with… Sara Lance, I believe her name was? That hurt like a bitch, Alex. You left me because I didn’t want children… I get that our view on life and what we wanted was different and breaking us away from each other. I also get and respect the fact that once I walked out that door I had no more claim on you but… _fuck_! To then find out that you went and slept with some random stranger… on a different Earth? Kind of guessing she wouldn’t have been able or interested in raising children with your either?”

“Maggie—” Alex instinctively reached out for her, wanting to put right what she had ruined even before her stupidly rash decision on the other Earth and her even worse decision to drunk call Maggie. Lord, she couldn’t even remember doing it but for Maggie to know her name there was no doubt that she had.

“No!” Maggie cut her off sharply. “Like I said, I had no claim to your attention or anything. We’d broken up. But it was still a shitty move, Danvers. It helped me to move on though. Erased _any_ doubt I had about what I was doing.”

Looking at her, at them, Alex wondered if part of what had helped Maggie move on was the woman sitting right beside her offering quiet support. Even if there wasn’t anything between them right then, Alex could see something in Kate’s steady gaze that said she would definitely be interested in pursuing something when Maggie was ready.

“I’m glad… Not that I hurt you! That was the last thing I wanted… but I’m glad everything is working out for you now,” she finished on a whisper. “So how did you lot end up working together? I take it you’re working with Lena and aren’t here to arrest her anyway.”

“Naw. Though I can’t say that I wasn’t tempted to arrest her for old times’ sake when I saw her in Gotham.” Maggie smiled widely as she caught Lena’s eyebrow quirking in her direction. When they had both been in National City, meeting up with Lena Luthor had, apart from a couple of girls nights, been a rare occurrence that was usually linked with end-of-days, shit-hitting-the-fan, kind of things.

Sometimes there had been whole chunks of time when the only reason she saw Alex was because of their work merging. So seeing Lena, who wasn’t even aware that Kara was Supergirl, and was usually busy being a genius-level inventor and CEO of a billion-dollar company when she wasn’t saving the world or literally dodging bullets, was just something that rarely ever happened.

“I went there to mend my broken harrr- hand. My hand.” Lena looked at her fingers determinedly, wiggling them as though it was the most important thing to be doing in the whole world. Alex had said that the injection wouldn’t kick in that fast but she was starting to wonder if she shouldn’t ask if it had truth serum-like properties with how some things seemed determined to come out or if it was just the effect of having Kara sitting so close, playing with her other hand still that was doing it.

“I know I could have just hopped on a plane and headed anywhere where I could sit on a private beach sipping expensive cocktails but I was trying to work out if I wanted to keep being Lena Luthor or if it was easier to ditch my first name and just go full Luthor like everyone has been expecting all along.”

Sighed tiredly, Lena held up her free hand to still the protests she could see forming on Kara’s lips. “No, it’s the truth, Kara. You think I don’t know that even the people that work for me in L-Corp have got a betting pool going on when I’m going to turn evil? I’m happy to say that the only person there I’m going to make happy is Jess as she bet ‘never’. Though it was touch and go for a couple of weeks being in a place like Gotham where it is easier to be evil than it is to be good.”

“You are good—”

“Or am I good because that was what others expected?”

“Lena, you tried to find a cure for cancer.”

“Because Jack wanted to. I went into that venture just wanting to prove myself better than everyone else that had tried before.” Finally claiming her hand back from Kara’s limp grasp, Lena linked her own fingers together upon her lap, stilling any nervous gesture they would have made otherwise, just as life with Lillian had taught her.

_Luthor’s don’t fidget, Lena!_

“You’ve done good things since then— You have saved the world!”

“After putting it at risk by being all too eager to prove myself as worthy to Rhea. I stopped developing the alien detector for the longest time because a certain reporter talked me out of putting it in the hands of the public. Everything I did was to prove something to people that thought all Luthor’s are evil… Or those that asked me to be better,” she looked pointedly into Kara’s eyes. “Or those that trusted me despite what everyone else said.”

Kara watched with a heavy heart as Lena’s eyes dropped and traced over the emblem on her chest.

“I didn’t know if I was being good because I wanted to be, or because I was trying to prove something. Once I lost both my friend and Supergirl’s trust in one go I found my answer in Gotham.”

“And what was the?”

“Well, believe me, Alex, if the answer had been that I was evil I am not the kind of villain that would waste my time monologuing.”

“Yeah, that was a dumb question on my part. But, given that when you came back it was a death of a reporter linked to you—”

“There is no dead reporter,” Kate interrupted. “Well, not one linked to Lena.”

“Then— Just what was that all about?”

“First off, when this all started I wasn’t a part of the agency that Maggie is with. But it turned out that we had both separately began to hear some troubling things to do with the Children of Liberty and started investigating Lockwood and Agent Liberty. Both with limited success.”

“By which, Kate means none at all. There is a lot, and I mean a _lot_ of speculation about the group but it is all speculation. When there is anything that can be traced back to a member of the group, Lockwood, and the group itself, are protected by a team of expensive lawyers that hide behind the fact that Lockwood did nothing personally… Freedom of speech… The fact that he has no control over how someone will take his words and act on them… Everything just slides right off him.”

“About a week after Lena arrived in Gotham I was out on patrol and saw Agent Liberty take off and fly away. I couldn’t follow him, he was already out of range, but I managed to track him back to the area he had taken off from… Where I found the body of a woman with a broken neck.” Frowning sadly, Kate gently squeezed Maggie’s hand supportively.

“It was one of our team. Jill. Fresh out of the academy and eager to please, and to prove herself. She’d been out on her own doing surveillance on Lockwood. I was on the phone with her just before and she’d heard Lena’s name mentioned. I told her to get out of there but it was too late.”

“Jeeze. I’m so sorry, Maggie.”

Maggie nodded in acknowledgement. “Before the line went dead she managed to tell me that there was a lot of interest in what Lena had been doing in Gotham, but that was all she had heard, and any recordings she might have made were gone or destroyed so there was no proof that Lockwood or his personal goon had anything to do with her death.”

“Maggie caught me at the scene,” Kate smiled softly at the memory, tracing her thumb across Maggie’s fingers.

“She thinks that _that_ shade of hair somehow doesn’t stand out,” Maggie rolled her eyes.

“Anyway… I stuck around and we compared notes and decided to work together. Maggie was already in touch with Lena by then so we kind of roped her in.”

“There was no roping. I’d been hearing a few things too… from villains that did monologue,” she quirked a brow pointedly at Alex. “We decided to try and draw Lockwood out… I amped up the bad behaviour to make myself seem more sympathetic to the cause and a murder was staged to leak out the ‘news’ that I was anti-alien.”

“And you came back here so…” Kara frowned in realisation. “Wait you came back to where there were more aliens so you would have their hatred, didn’t you?”

“Precisely. Obviously, it worked. As soon as the news got out that I was coming back, Lockwood added some ‘dates’ here.”

“Then why didn’t you get in touch with her… or with the DEO?” Alex looked between all three women accusingly.

“One… Maggie and I are still kind of pissed at you both. Two, having Supergirl just dropping by for lunch or a chat would not look good if I was being watched. And thirdly…”

“We believe there is someone working for Lockwood, or just someone just sympathetic to the cause, working in the DEO.”

“No, there can’t be!”

“Alex. We’ve seen information flowing out of there that could only have been sent and not mined in a hack. You’ve got a leak. We just can’t trace who it is. While we’re not too fond of the both of you for personal reasons. They are just that, personal reasons. We trust you, just not who works for you and I’m not losing anyone else.”

Alex wanted to rile against the very idea that anything like that could be happening but…

“Shit! Shit! Shit! After J’onn put the order in for use on non-lethal weapons we had so many that left the DEO. Everyone coming in was vetted but it was all done by an outside agency the Government uses. A perfect opportunity to put people in place to try and take us down.”

“Exactly.”

Kara sat quietly, absorbing everything that was being said even as her eyes remained mostly focussed upon Lena. She missed the feel and comfort of her hand within her own but Lena, while not actually moving away from her, had managed to angle herself to where Kara couldn’t reach her without diving across her. Shame for how Lena had doubted herself warred with the pride she felt for Lena knowing what she had all along… Lena was a good person, the best… And she was also starting to flag despite her best efforts to look as cool and in control as always.

“Are you okay?” Kara whispered softly as Lena kept her eyes closed for longer, her fingers stilling as they rubbed across her forehead.

“Mhm.” Rubbing at her eyes, Lena opened them determinedly and tried to act like she hadn’t been just about to fall asleep. “You said before about the shooter. You didn’t get them?”

“No,” Alex gritted out. “Well, not alive anyway. By the time we got there, the shooter was already dead. Apparent suicide by his own weapon.”

“Apparent?”

“Thing is. The alien was from a race that are known pacifists. They won’t lift a fist to brush away a fly let alone a weapon. And yeah, it could be that this guy just didn’t follow the rest of his race’s beliefs but we only have Agent Liberty’s word on what happened to him… well through Lockwood. Liberty conveniently left before we got there and no one can find him.”

“And no weapon on the body?”

“There was a weapon, the remains of one anyway but it was crushed pretty badly,” scrolling through pictures on her cell phone, Alex held it up so that Lena could see the remains of the weapon.

Lena scowled at the photo, reassembling the pieces into a whole in her mind. The shape was vaguely similar in that it was a typical hand weapon shape but there was one thing that didn’t go with what she had seen. “That wasn’t what the shooter was using.”

“You’re sure?”

“Positive. Unless he stopped to get it repainted the one I saw was matt black with a gold stripe running down it… that is solid silver. Can I see the body?”

“Lena, he was shot in the head and took a fall that left him looking like a pancake. Believe me, there is nothing you want to see.”

“Was there enough left to determine height? The shooter was six-two, maybe a bit more or less. Does that sound like it could be right?”

“No,” Alex gritted out. “I don’t know for certain until we get the autopsy result but this species rarely gets any taller than five and a half foot.”

Lena looked between everyone, seeing them all reaching some version of the same conclusion even though none of them said it. But really, what more of a perfect way to spread distrust of aliens that to frame a member of a species that didn’t believe in violence? If they could turn then who could they trust?

It was devious and quite brilliant. And, for the moment, they had no way of proving what they all suspected or even that Lockwood had any part in it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have, and will continue to have for now, comments set on moderation.  
> I don't mind constructive criticism but I will not put up with rudeness or comments that tell me how to write my story or are just out to start a war with other fans just because they don't like how a character is treated on the show or in fiction.
> 
> Don't like? Don't read... but for those reading and liking... enjoy :)


	9. Chapter 9

The sweet sugary scent of freshly baked goods drew Kara across the apartment floor towards her door like the seductive call of a siren even before she heard the quiet rap of knuckles against the wood.

Recognising the familiar beat of Alex’s heart through the white painted wood, Kara yanked the door open and snatched the box from her favourite bakery off her before she could finish her first knock. The suddenness of her move had her sister’s heart leaping to race slightly but Kara was too busy lifting up the box lid to breathe in the scent from the box, and making sure it was cruller’s and not some cruel, but almost as delicious, joke Alex was playing her with.

“Good morning to you too, Kara.” Rolling her eyes, Alex stepped inside Kara’s apartment and shut the door behind her. “Hey, one of those is mine!” she called out but with Kara already well on the way to devouring the third she didn’t hold up much hope. Grumbling softly at Kara’s slightly sheepish look around full cheeks, she made her way over to the coffee machine and poured herself a drink. Leaning back against the counter, she looked at Kara through the steam that rose up from her favourite mug.

She looked tired… which, given Kara’s sometimes annoying ray of sunshine approach to everything, was troubling. Especially as the sun was up and that usually gave her the kind of boost that caffeine addicts the world over would envy.

“You doing okay, Kar?”

“Yeah, of course!” snorting softly, Kara went back to finishing the last tasty morsel.

“Ahh!”

“Ahh, what?” Freezing like a deer in the headlights at Alex’s knowing tone, Kara tried to look anywhere other than at her sister. Not that there was anything to hide! She wasn’t keeping anything from her! But, Rao, she had a way of saying things and looking at her that just made Kara feel guilty even when she hadn’t done anything.

“Let me guess, crinkle,” she smirked as Kara scowled and rubbed at the telling wrinkle between her brows. “You spent all night worrying about Lena and when you weren’t checking on her heart from here, you were out patrolling past her building?”

“How? I mean, no!” she drawled the word out guiltily.

“How? Well, that parts easy. Brainy. You know he watches those monitors like an overtrained hawk and I had him keeping an eye on everything over there, just in case anything went down, and he saw flashes of you flying past. And… I know you, Kara, you would do anything to protect a _friend_.”

“I wish you wouldn’t say ‘friend’ like that,” Kara pouted.

“I will. When you stop making those ridiculous heart-eyes at Lena when she breathes. And when you stop kissing on her when you’re left alone.”

“Technically we weren’t alone that time, Maggie and Kate were in the penthouse—”

“Not helping—”

“And Rao, have you _seen_ the way she breathes though?” She signed as her teasing earned her another exasperated look off Alex. “I was just worried about her after everything they told us and with how her wound was. I’ve never seen a weapon that can do that, have you?”

“No. And that worried me too. I had Brainy testing a piece of it last night while he was multitasking with the monitors. I told him to let me know right away if there was something urgent that came up and to keep it all hush-hush and off the DEO servers to be safe. Even if you, J’onn, or any of the Legion turned up and asked what he’s doing, he won’t say a word.”

“Alex, did you threaten him?”

“No! Unlike Winn that only works so far with Brainy,” Alex sighed, really missing the man that had become almost like a brother to her, and not only because he caved to a look faster than a house of cards in a hurricane. “I just told him how important it was and he swore he would do as I asked.”

“You believe what they told us then?”

“You think we shouldn’t?” Alex fired back.

“I think I asked you first,” Kara countered.

“Honestly, I hate to say it because that means we’ve got a mole in the DEO but, I trust they believe what they told us.”

“Alex!”

“I can’t see Maggie working against us no matter how she feels about me. That woman is damn good at her job. As for Kane, she flies on the side of right too.”

“And Lena?” Kara asked challengingly, daring her sister to find anything wrong with her working with them.

“Apart from the fact that she knows how to make one of the few substances that can kill you?”

“Yes, apart from that.”

“She’s always managed to dip her toe into the grey area with some things but when it comes down to it she’s landed on the side of good. I would prefer it is she never made kryptonite ever again though.”

“Because she’s a Luthor?”

“No. Because my darling, love-struck sister, it could kill you if anyone else got their hands on it no matter what reason she made it for. And if anyone else found out what she could do she would be in even more danger than she usually manages to get into. Look at what happened yesterday.”

“Yes,” Kara sighed. “You know, I really should go check on her.”

Alex snagged the back of Kara’s long cardigan before she could, knowing Kara, quite literally take off to go check on Lena. “Sit! You’re already listening to her heartbeat, aren’t you? Don’t try lying or I’ll never buy you another pot-sticker.”

“Alex!” Kara gasped in horror at the threat. “That is mean! Okay, yes, I am,” she fussed and straightened the sleeves of her cardigan as she sat down. “I just want to make sure nothing happens.”

“Kar, I know you want to make things right with Lena… I’m all for that—”

“Really?”

“Yeah. I know I came down hard on her when she got back into town… I had to with everything that was coming out about her from Gotham. I would have arrested anyone, even your ass, in the same circumstances.”

Reaching across, Alex placed a calming hand on Kara’s fidgeting fingers, stilling the motion of them. “Talk to her, Kara. You need to if we’re going to be working together… and if you want to kiss her some more.” Alex smiled as Kara’s cheeks blushed red. “I can’t believe I thought you were straight. Swear my gaydar is broken.”

“Omnidar.”

“Fine, omnidar. At least you didn’t say, pandar.” Alex groaned as Kara started giggling and muttering ‘panda’ not so quietly. Standing up, she pressed a kiss to the top of Kara’s head. "Are you coming into the DEO with me to check on what Brainy found or heading into CatCo?”

“DEO.”

“Good, I want you under the sunlamps for a bit. No,” holding up a hand, Alex stilled Kara’s protests. “You didn’t sleep and you flew a lot all night. Get a top up, please. I need you safe and at peak-Supergirl. Okay?”

“Okay.”

“And sort things out with Lena. Really sort it out… Find out what you both want… If you can trust each other. And if you can forgive each other.”

Knowing how long it would take Alex to reach the DEO and how little time it would take her, Kara sat for a while longer, staring at nothing while listening to Lena’s heart. She knew that Alex was right, they needed to talk. But that was a scary thing to think about.

At least she thought the fluttering in her stomach was fear… it felt like fear sometimes did. But at the same time, it kind of felt good and tingly when she thought about seeing Lena again and fear didn’t feel like that. When she thought about Lena it made her feel like she was flying, soaring above the clouds with the sun shining down upon her for the first time when she had first got to Earth.

Realising that some time had passed while she’d been daydreaming, Kara rushed around her apartment to clear up and put on her suit, putting on a burst of super-speed to help. Checking that no one was around to see, she took to the sky and made her way around the city in a looping pattern to check that everything was okay in the streets and buildings below. And if on that looping flight she just happened to cruise by Lena’s penthouse… well, that was just doing her job. As was the small amount of x-ray vision she used to check within.

Even with the strange way her vision was distorted, Kara could see that Lena looked okay… more than okay… perfect in a totally not creepy way even though that glance had shown her Lena obviously in the process of getting dressed in her typical power outfit of high heels and stylish but uncomfortably tight clothes.

Kara thought that Lena looked good in everything she wore but she loved it the most when Lena wore soft clothing and let her hair hang loose and curl naturally. She was relaxed and unguarded in those moments in a way she never was with anyone she didn’t trust implicitly.

Levelling off her flight before she crashed into the ground in a Lena induced haze, Kara continued on her way with the sound of Lena’s heart carrying her most of the way across the city, with only one slight detour to help a cat out of a tree, before Alex’s familiar beat brought her in the rest of the way to the tall DEO building.

The tall, glass balcony doors were already open as she touched down just inside them and making Blake jump three foot backwards in shock, the tablet and papers he was carrying flying into the air.

With a quick burst of speed, Kara caught everything and handed them back. “Sorry about that, Blake,” she smiled apologetically.

“That’s okay, Supergirl… good for the heart.” Giving a strained laugh, he clutched everything against his chest as Supergirl swept past him and started down the stairs with a bounce in her step that hadn’t been there when he had seen her before.

Seeing Brainy standing near the brightly lit, high-tech, circular dais that stood in the middle of the main control room, Kara made her way across the room towards him. His fingertips, as they usually were, pressed together to form almost a diamond shape as he waited for her to reach him. He was cloaked, his blue skin and white hair hidden away and yet he still managed to look like he didn’t quite fit in even.

“Director Danvers, Supergirl! Good morning to you both.” Brainy greeted them as they reached him together.

“Hi, Brainy!”

“Agent Dox.”

“I just predicted that there was a 99.985% chance of probability that you would both arrive here at the same time and… here you are!”

“And that prediction has nothing to do with the fact that you saw us arriving on the monitors?” Alex raised an eyebrow at him.

“Actually, yes, it did. But I was attempting Earth humour. How did I do?”

“Like you are shaping up to be a perfect replacement for Winn.”

“My intellect is far superior to Mr Schott but he was a fine agent… Wait… Director Danvers, you appear to be using what Winn called ‘that look’ on me again? Did I do something wrong?”

Biting her lip to contain her smile, Kara looked around the control room and everyone busy within its walls. She knew everyone there at least by name and entrusted them every day to have her back. To find out that one of them right there might be working against her and every other alien in the city… in the world, had the last remnants of the almost giddy butterfly’s in her stomach being washed away by a wave of sickness and uncertainty.

_Who could she trust?_

“You okay?” Alex asked softly as she placed a hand on Kara’s arm, feeling the tenseness in the muscles as her sister body gave a barely perceptible twitch and blue eyes shrouded in worry met hers. “I think it’s time for you to lay under the lamps for a bit. Agent Dox, come with us and you can give me a status update at the same time,” she added a bit louder just in case not so friendly ears were listening in.

“As you wish, Director,” he nodded just as stoically at her tone as well as the use of ‘Agent Dox’ instead of the more familiar ‘Brainy’ as ever as he fell into step with the two women until they reached the quiet of the medical room set aside for Supergirl to occasional recharge her powers when there were no other life-threatening injuries to be treated.

“Alex,” Kara whined protesting as Alex started setting up the sun lamps. “I really don’t need to go under the lamps. Thought you’d just said that so we could talk away from everyone.”

“And we can… while you’re under them.” Alex pointed at the narrow bed, her eyebrow cocking up at her sister’s pout.

“All the power is getting to your head, Alex. I think I should get in touch with J’onn and get him to come back.” Kara slid onto the bed reluctantly. “J’onn comes back to save us from Alex, doesn’t he Brainy?”

“One, I have no desire to be pulled into this sibling thing you have going. Winn warned me about that too—”

“I’m going to be having words about his acts of treason when Winn visits next,” Alex growled softly.

“And two, even if I knew, I couldn’t tell you if J’onn returns to the DEO in any capacity in the future.”

“How do you mean, _if_ you knew?”

Brainy steepled his fingers together, eager to impart his vast knowledge on the subject of time travel even if their limited minds were unlikely to understand fully. He was a 12th-level intellect and even he didn’t understand all the ins and out of it. Not that he would admit that to them.

“When we first arrived in this time, I was aware of the future we had been in. The future shaped by the fact that Pestilence evolved and became The Blight. That future was changed when Pestilence was killed and Reign stopped sooner, but I had no knowledge of what it had changed until we returned to the future and we found that while there was no Blight there was a plague designed to kill all A.I.’s so I could no longer stay there.”

“So, if we asked you about what we need to do when it comes to Agent Liberty and Lockwood—?”

“It would be wrong for me to inform you of anything I did know as telling you the end might lead to you missing a vital step. Also, I am not sure if it because of my being here that is affecting events or because of what happened with the Worldkillers being defeated but the future is as much a mystery to me as it is to anyone else.”

“You don’t know anything of Agent Liberty then?”

“In the two futures that I retain knowledge of, the one with The Blight and the one that was created when The Blight didn’t happen, neither had any extensive records on any of the subjects that are coming up now. That could be because nothing too earth-shattering came from them or that events have changed.”

Kara held up a hand, holding back the sun lamp before Alex could move them over her. “Wait. Brainy, if there was anything ‘earth-shattering’ would you tell us?”

Brainy tilted his head as he pondered her question. “I would have said no, but, I have found myself growing fond of this time and all of you and I believe that if I did have the knowledge I would, as they say, give you a heads up. I really am in the dark on this though and I can’t say that I find the sensation at all pleasant.”

Kara nodded, satisfied as much as she could be that he had their back.

“You,” Alex pressed her hand against Kara’s shoulder, urging her to move on her own as she knew she stood no earthly chance of making her do anything she didn’t want to. “Lie down while Brainy gives his report.”

With a huff, Kara relented and lay down. The buzz of the lamps as they turned on was an annoyance but the wash of energy that pulsed through her as their light washed over her body was invigorating.

“I went over all the footage I could find from the cameras at both scenes and,” he huffed in annoyance for what he was about to admit, “I am sad to report that there was very little from either.”

“What? Not even from our cameras?”

“With the closeness of the buildings, most of the camera angles were too steep to get more than a view of the shooter from behind and when Agent Liberty took off, it appears he was using some variety of scrambler that rendered the footage unusable when it comes to identifying who or what the shooter was.”

“Everyone with the damn scramblers,” Alex growled darkly.

“Yes, it is very frustrating how easy it is in this time to create. I did manage to make out that Ms Luthor was correct in that the weapon used was indeed a different colour than the remnants we found. What was found with the body is a common blaster but the metal you gave me to analyse last night is from a far more advanced weapon. One that is most troubling.”

“Troubling how?”

“Firstly, it isn’t alien in nature. Much like many of the DEO’s current weaponry, it is based on knowledge of alien tech but it is human-made and designed for humans to use. Secondly,” moving over to a computer terminal, Brainy quickly accessed it and bypassed security to completely cover his tracks before he pulled up footage he had pieced together from the shooting. “It is very subtle but—”

“Son of a bitch!”

“What?”

“Look,” Alex pointed at the screen, slowing it down so that Kara saw it too. The moment where the shooter raised the weapon and just before firing, moved his head and weapon ever so slightly so both were aimed at Lena. “Lena was the target all along.”

“Which brings me to the thirdly. Lena Luthor should be dead right now.”

Kara pushed aside the lamps, nearly tossing them across the room in her haste to get to her feet.

“Hold on!” Alex grabbed for her sister’s arm, holding on to muscles as unyielding as granite and hoped she wasn’t about to get put through a wall. “Kara, focus! Listen!” She saw it, the moment Kara heard Lena’s heartbeat across the city. Her whole body sagged and Alex was left supporting Kara’s full weight. “She’s okay, right?”

“Yes,” Kara breathed out shakily in relief. She kept listening, tracking Lena as she made her way up to her office in L-Corp.

“Okay, good,” Alex rubbed a hand up and down Kara’s back and took a seat next to her on the bed. “I saw the wound Brainy, that was only a graze. How would it have—” she paused, glancing at her sister, knowing she wouldn’t like the word, “you know?”

“Kiiii—” he cut the word off as the Director shot him a glare that threatened something far worse for himself if he finished the word. “Yes— The weapon used, extrapolating on what the footage shows and the metal I analysed, is one I have knowledge of from the future. It is designed so that anything it is loaded with will continue to grow exponentially. It meant that in battle it was lethal as grazes that were left untreated eventually killed as the body was overwhelmed by shrapnel that multiplied rapidly. Fortunately, it appears that this one was not functioning fully as the metal stopped growing.”

“Agent Liberty was hit protecting Lockwood, has there been any hospital reports coming in of any blaster wounds or… anything like _that_?”

“I checked and no. It wouldn’t have affected him anyway. With how the weapon is designed, the ones I heard about anyway, it had a major design flaw that they were never able to overcome. The part that does the most damage only affects the first target hit. After that, while I am sure it was painful to be hit by what was left of the beam, it generally wasn’t lethal. That flaw saved countless lives as they couldn’t make bombs of it.”

Alex baulked at the thought but instead of focussing on what it couldn’t and hopefully never would do, she picked at what she was hearing behind his words feeling on some level like a trainee all over again with an instructor standing over her just waiting for her to prove him right. “I can hear a ‘ _but_ ’ lurking in there, Brainy.”

“But,” he played the footage again, freezing it where he needed it. “He is looking in that direction before the shooter even arrives and when he raises the weapon, he shows no emotion at the sight of it. Which could be because of training with the CIA, or some form of insanity. But, I believe that Lockwood knew what was going to happen and knew he was perfectly safe.”

Lifting her head, Kara looked at the screen as Brainy played the footage on slowly. Her eyes dragged away from the horrifying sight of Lena hitting the floor to watch as Agent Liberty stepped in front of Lockwood and protected him. Sparks flow, flaring across the screen as they his is armour by Liberty showed no sign at all that the blast had affected him in the least.

“I need to go see Lena.”

“Kara, no. Listen to me, I know you want to but she’s safe. If you go in there right now how I know you want to it could jeopardise the mission—”

“No!” Kara stood up sharply. “I don’t care about any mission! I need to go see her Alex… Please, as my sister—”

“I will always be your sister above anything, Kara. I know I haven’t always done so great in showing that but it’s the truth.” Gently cupping Kara’s face between her hands, Alex pressed their foreheads together. “Go see her if that’s what you need… the no kissing rule still applies though.”

“Since when was that a rule?”

“It’s for your own good, Kara. If you get all flustered you’ll walk through a wall or something.”

“I would not—” laughing at the ridiculousness of that, Kara backed away from her sister and nearly knocked over one of the expensive sun lamps as she remembered the softness of Lena’s lips and tripped over her own feet. “Rao, I probably would,” Kara admitted ruefully.

“I’m going to get in touch with Maggie and Kate to exchange info with them but— Brainy, is there any of the metal left?”

“Yes, Director.”

“Okay, pack the rest of it up and give it and a copy of the reports to Kara. There,” she turned her attention back to Kara, “give that to her as a sign of good faith. You never know, she might give you a kiss.”

“Alex!!”

*********

With a vial containing the remains of the metal and a flash drive of reports tucked away, Kara flew out of the DEO and used every ounce of restraint to head home to change to approach L-Corp as Kara instead of flying in as Supergirl.

Kara liked moving at a more normal human pace, it reminded her of Krypton and she could almost, _almost_ , pretend that she was walking amongst her own kind. But the sun was different there, everything too bright compared to the colours Krypton had been lit with by the red sun they circled.

She liked it though.

Which was part of the selfish reasons behind keeping Lena in the dark about her secret identity.

She had felt free just being Kara around Lena and Lena had opened up more and more around her. Which had started a cycle of guilt every time she thought about how much her friend was giving while she was holding back.

What had started off as something simple, had all become so horribly complicated.

Pushing her glasses firmly against the bridge of her nose, Kara watched the numbers steadily tick by on the display of the thankfully spacious elevator until the doors slid open to reveal the busy top floor. It always amazed her how calm it was there compared to the bustle of CatCo despite the pressure to perform that came with working for such a huge and successful company.

The first time she and Kal had walked across the floor to ‘interview’ Lena, Kal had urged her before to listen in to what the workers there were saying and she had heard what he had; frantically pounding hearts at the sight of Lena and far too many fearful whispers about the new Luthor in their midst’s.

Kara had quickly come to trust Lena by what _she_ felt and had listened to her own voice, and Lena’s heart, and not the gossips.

For the first time in ages though, she let their voices reach their ears and found herself blushing when she realised that what gossip there was, was about her. With only a few wondering if her return was business or if she and Lena were girlfriends again. Others made Kara’s cheeks glow redder when she overheard speculation on who was the top in the relationship… who looked the most ‘Daddy’… whatever that was supposed to mean, apparently Lena did. While some speculating that Lena might be more of a ‘bottom’ in the bedroom to let go from how in control she was at work.

Kara had no idea what they were talking about but somehow she had the feeling that asking Lena or Alex would be a very bad idea.

Kara zoned them out as Jess came into view about to head into the area she guarded outside the doors of Lena’s office with a cup balanced in her hand. The sight of her seemed to startle Jess to the point that Kara feared for the contents of the cup but Jess recovered admirably and her shock conveyed itself by the sharp climb of her eyebrow.

The other woman held her tongue as Kara opened the door for her to step through and only as it closed behind them did she find her voice.

“Ms Luthor has a telephone meeting with investors in thirty minutes.”

Kara was sure Jess was going to finish by telling her to get out before she called security, but instead she found herself holding onto the delicate white cup and saucer as Jess placed them in her hand before she turned and left her alone to stare at the dark wooden doors that stood in the way of her seeing the woman whose heart she was focussed upon.

*********

Lena was dimly aware of the opening of her office door and the quiet tread of feet across the thick carpeting. She was so focused upon the screens of her laptop and tablet and the graphs and reports upon them that it wasn’t until the cup of coffee Jess always provided her with at that time, was placed upon her desk in the wrong place that she looked at it and tracked back along the hand holding it.

A hand that was delicate but stronger than Jess’, with nails that were shorter compared to the longer ones of Jess’ that had a part of Lena screaming ‘NOOOOO’ every time she saw them. Lena knew without going any further who stood before her but her eyes seemed determined to drag slowly up along the strong forearms and biceps exposed, quite unusually for Kara, by an elegant, form-fitting powder blue dress instead of the more usual, and frankly very gay looking, variation of button-down shirt, or sweater-vest, and pants topped off with a brown belt.

A belt that, Lena realised as her eyes skimmed briefly over Kara’s trim waist, she was still managing to wear.

Before their friendship had gone to hell, Lena had, after a solid week of seeing at least three different belts a day around Kara’s waist, spent too much time one day pondering the ethics of breaking into Kara’s apartment just to see how many brown belts she owned.

Closing her laptop, Lena pushed it to the side out of the way and leaned back in her chair with a deliberate slowness as she tried to compose herself and make some kind of sense of what she was doing there.

“What can I do for you, Kara?”

“I- I came to bring you something.” Under the challenging weight of Lena’s steady gaze and the challenging arch of fine brow over stunning pale green eyes that shifted between green and blue in the light, Kara fidgeted with her glasses, adjusting their position on her face with tiny, nervous jerking motions.

“Usually Jess is perfectly capable of bringing me my coffee.” She was giving serious consideration to not giving Jess her usual weekly raise after all.

“What? Oh, no,” Kara laughed probably far too loudly and nervously given the situation but as she did so, she caught the moment that Lena pressed her teeth into the plump curve of her lip and the laugh was knocked out of her by a wave of heat. “Oh, Rao,” she mumbled under her breath.

“If not to bring me coffee, why are you here, Kara?”

“Yes, right!” Reaching into the bag slung over her shoulder, Kara quickly found the vial and the flash drive and held them out towards Lena. “The remainder of the metal and Brainy’s report on them.”

“Not afraid I’ll take the info and make a weapon of some kind?” Lena questioned challengingly, choosing to remain sitting back in her chair, her hands still upon the edge of her desk instead reaching for what Kara was holding out in offer… of what? Peace? A test?

“Lena, no,” Kara sat down in the chair opposite Lena, leaning forward earnestly as she placed the items gently on the surface of the white desk and pushed them closer. “I trust you. I really do,” she added softly as Lena glanced away, offering her a view of a tense jawline so fine she was sure it would cut even her.

“You can do what you want with it. Alex is contacting Maggie and Kate to give them a full report and, as good as Brainy is, I would be happier if you gave everything a look too.”

“You would?”

“Yes, Rao yes. You’re brilliant, Lena! Brainy still talks about how you figured out how to fly the Legion ship just by watching him. You made him re-evaluate the possible levels of intellect that humans of this time or something so he’s impressed in a sulky kind of way.”

Lena tried to hold back the warmth of Kara’s words as the gentle conviction in her voice and eyes lit a fire within her. She always had been good at soothing her fragile ego and calming her self-doubt. Before she could formulate a response about males of any species and find enough venom to inject into it, Kara had left her chair in the blink of an eye, leaving behind an afterimage in Lena’s eye before she appeared crouched beside her chair, her hand hovering almost hesitantly just above her arm where the weapon had burnt a path across her skin.

“Kara—”

“Is it okay if I check it out?”

 _Hell no!_ Was the first thought that came briefly to Lena’s mind but the softness in Kara’s eyes struck her dumb and before she could find it again her body betrayed her and she nodded her head instead.

Kara was pretty sure that Lena wouldn’t be too impressed at the comparison but, right then, Lena reminded her of Streaky as she watched her with the same level of haughty intensity and caution that only a cat could achieve that warned that just one false move would have her going from looking soft and touchable to spitting bundle of fury faster than even she could move under the yellow sun.

Lena watched Kara’s eyes with a scientific intently, and not looking at the beautiful blue of her eyes at all, as she tilted down her glasses. Apart from the sudden fierce look of concentration on her face, there was nothing to indicate that she was staring through her flesh and looking at her bones.

Kara froze as Lena gently took her glasses right off her face and turned them around and around in her hands, studying them intently.

“Why the glasses? Heavier than normal… lead? There’s no risk of radiation exposure when you do that is there?”

“No, no radiation. It’s not like x-ray machines here on Earth other than the similarity in that I can’t use it through lead so it helps to contain that power. When I first arrived on Earth I had no control over what I could do. I went from being ‘normal’ on Krypton to suddenly being able to see through everything, crushing everything I touched, running so fast I would have to be careful when I thought about going somewhere, flying, and suddenly shooting beams out of my eyes.”

“Oh, Kara,” Lena couldn’t help but reach out for her, her hand cupping Kara’s jaw at the sadness in her voice. Most people looking at her and everything she could do, would do so with envy in their eyes. To think of what it must have been like to suddenly be able to do all she could and have no control over it… “That must have been terrifying.”

“It was,” Kara whispered, afraid to break the moment as Lena’s hand cupped her cheek, her thumb brushing tenderly over her cheekbone. “Kal, he arrived when he was a baby so he grew into them and life on Earth whereas I left Krypton when I was thirteen. I saw my home destroyed an then somehow ended up in the Phantom Zone for years, stuck in my pod, existing and not ageing until I was knocked out of the zone again and landed on Earth.”

Pausing, Kara swallowed down the painful memories and allowed Lena’s gentle touch to ground her before the past overwhelmed her.

“I- I struggled,” she admitted with a wry smile. “New home, new powers, everything singling me out as being different and being forced to hide. Elisa and Jeremiah helped though… and so did Alex when we weren’t being brats to each other.”

“Kara Danvers, I just can’t see you being a brat.”

“Oh, I had my moments,” Kara chuckled softly. “Mostly just using my extra speed to beat Alex into the bathroom each morning.” Her smile widened as Lena let out a warm laugh, her lips curving up into the kind of genuine smile that had Kara wanting to see it, and be the cause of it, every day of their lives.

She stroked her hand gently across Lena’s arm from wrist to elbow. “I can’t see anything in the wound but, is it okay if I take a look at it? An actual look, with my eyes?”

“That’s not a good idea—”

“Lena—”

“No,” Lena held up a hand before the puppy pout could properly form on Kara’s face. “Normally I would be okay with that _but_ —” she gestured to the dress she was wearing and how tight and covering it was. “For you to get a look I would have to take this off.”

“Oh—Oh! Rao!”

Lena watched in fascination as the woman that had dared to bite her breast not all that long ago went up in flames right before her. She didn’t think she had ever seen anyone blush so furiously before. “If you really want to though—” she reached behind her as though to unzip her dress and found that there was a whole other level of red that Kara could achieve.

She had become almost used to Kara’s flustering around her inability not to flirt almost shamelessly at her, lord knows she had done enough of her own when it had seemed that Kara might be flirting back… until the inevitable best friends declaration came out. She had finally come to the conclusion that it was better to think nothing of her Kara’s presumed responses other than to use them as an indicator that she needed to rein her gay back under control. The kisses and that bite had changed things though. Not that it made Lena any surer of her step around Kara, there was still too much hanging between them, but the thought that Kara actually liked her back in a _like_ kind of way and not just as friends, was as heady as it was terrifying because, despite everything, Lena still liked her that way too.

“Why did you want to look at it anyway?” She asked as she saw Kara still struggling to contain her blush while doing apparent mental gymnastics to try and work out how to get a look at her arm… which included a glance at a pair of scissors on her desk and even though she could afford it, Lena really didn’t want to waste a perfectly good dress that she had only worn once.

In reply to Lena’s question, Kara picked up the flash drive that Brainy had given her and pressed it into Lena’s hand. “See what you think.”

Taking herself out of the way of temptation, Kara sat on the white couch and watched from a safe distance as Lena loaded up the information and combed through it quickly but intently, her green eyes narrowing and widening as she looked over the figures and footage, her brightly painted lips compressing into a thin line.

Picking up the vial, Lena looked at the thin slither of metal that had been removed from her arm. It was horrifying to think of the implications of what the technology could do. With the barest details Brainy had provided in the report, in its purest application it could revolutionize industry but, it could also destabilize it. And Lena was no fool, metal could not be produced from thin air. If she had to hazard a guess she would say that it was designed to transform living tissue into something else in a manner similar to an early design she and Jack had made for the nanobots that had ultimately destroyed him.

If Alex hadn’t seen the metal when she had, there was a chance that, come morning her bed would have just contained a vaguely human shape composed of tightly bound wire.

“It’s brilliant. And utterly terrifying.” The vial clicked slightly against the top of her desk as she put it down gently as though afraid it was about to go off. “We need to find out who is producing something like this and put a stop to it before it gets any further.”

“Brainy says it’s already out there in the future… enough that he remembers it.”

“If I remember rightly, Kara. The Legion came here with the intent of stopping the future they knew with The Blight and they changed that. The future is not set in stone and I refuse to live in a world where something like this is around to kill innocent people.”

Straightening up on the couch, Kara felt pride wash through her at the fierce determination in Lena’s voice.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In the next chapter (or two not sure yet), Lena and Kara will finally sit down and have a talk. Do not expect any big angst-fest as I just don't do long winded, shouting filled, angst-fests... not when the two idiots are so ready to be together anyway.


	10. Chapter 10

As she came in to land upon the roof above Lena’s penthouse, Kara felt the weight of the world pressing against her shoulders, pulling a huff of breath from deep within her soul as well as her lungs as her booted feet touched down.

The last couple of weeks had been… trying, to say the least.

Since the shooting, the anti-alien sentiment had been growing within National City. Spurred on by more and more rallies and member drives by Lockwood and the sight of Agent Liberty patrolling the skies and coming to the defence of humans only, the hatred was spiralling out of control depressingly fast.

It had quickly reached the point that every time she went out to help, no matter what she was helping with; aliens, fires, car chases, bank robberies, even cats stuck in trees, there seemed to be a growing number in the gathered crowds of onlookers, holding up signs painted with words and slogans of hatred that stung almost as much as the ones spewing out of their mouths until they drowned out the cheers.

Kara had thought… had liked to believe, that the world was becoming more tolerant in all things. More accepting of people’s differences since President Marsdin had introduced her new laws to help and protect aliens to help them become a part of the world and neighbourhoods they now called home.

Kara had tried to talk to J’onn about it and get his guidance after she had been called out to help after a small explosion outside of the alien bar but he had hit her with an, at the time unappreciated hard truth, that she saw the good and was accepted as a hero and alien because she passed for human. Even though she had spent her time on Earth trying to blend in it had felt like a slap and she had flown away, leaving the rift unbridged between them.

Alex had looked at her with sadness weighing heavily in her dark eyes and hunching her shoulders as she had voiced her opinions and had sat her down one sister night and gently explained just how much prejudice and hatred was still spewed upon normal humans just because of their religion, the colour of their skin, their sexual orientation and even their gender.

Alex was a grown woman, more than capable of taking care of herself and yet there had been tears in her eyes as she recounted a time she and Maggie had gone out together and had faced the hatred first hand, how they hadn’t even felt comfortable holding hands because of the looks of disgust.

When she had told her about a young boy, not even in his teens that had dared to come out to his friends at school and had endured such bullying at their hands that he had killed himself. And there were countless others like him, so young and vulnerable. Struggling to find acceptance for who they were.

They had both broken down, finding solace in each other's arms, Chinese takeaway, pizza, and ice cream.

If humans could treat each other that way… what chance did aliens stand?

With a heartfelt sigh, Kara allowed her back to slide down the wall next to the door that led down off the roof and sat on the floor, spreading her legs before her as she played with the edge of her cape.

Kara wasn’t sure why she was there. Lena wasn’t home. In fact, as far as Kara could tell, she wasn’t in National City at all. She just felt more comfortable being somewhere where Lena went though.

Sitting on the top of L-Corp or landing on the balcony to Lena’s office there was likely to get her a lecture from Alex about how she would ruin everything they were trying to do to make Lockwood think Lena was a possible ally. And wandering in as Kara and just flopping on Lena’s couch was even more likely to have Jess calling security on her as Lena wasn’t even in the office, Kara had checked numerous times already. Lena’s assistant did seem to be helping somewhat when it came to clearing the way to Lena for her when she turned up out of the blue every day for lunch or an unexpected doughnut break but even she would have her limits.

Kara had heard Lena mutter ‘traitor’ at Jess one time for letting her in every day. But there had been a softness in Lena’s voice that said she didn’t really mean it, and a twinkle in Jess’ eyes that said she didn’t care if there had been, as she had put plates on the table for them and supplied them with coffee.

Kara knew she was being a coward still when it came to Lena but with the world apparently going to hell under her watch, she was clinging almost desperately to the familiarity of the return to their relationship as Kara and Lena inside the walls of L-Corp at least. As strained as it had been the first couple of times and as tenuous as it still was.

In those moments though; as they shared the couch in Lena’s office, nibbling on pastries… or Lena nibbling delicately while Kara ate them like her life depended on it. They relaxed together, Lena’s defences gradually lowering slightly to reveal a glimpse of the wicked smile and teasing glint in her eyes that could make even Kara forget to eat. Those were the moments where Kara regained what she had lost and maybe even caught a glimpse of the future they could have had… And maybe, hopefully, still could?

“Lena isn’t here, Kara?”

Lifting her head, Kara’s brows climbed at the sight of Kate strolling across the roof towards her to sink down to the ground to sit beside her in a fluid and graceful movement.

“How?” Kara frowned at the still closed door beside her. “How did you get up here?”

“Trade secret… like how you manage to hide your suit under your reporter clothes,” Kate winked as Kara’s brow crinkled even more.

“Okay, fair enough,” relaxing back against the wall, Kara tilted back her head so the rays from the sun could fall against her face. Cracking open an eye, she glanced at Kate sitting beside her looking all still and calm while she was just felt jittery and anxious as her body recharged under the sun. “How did you find out who I was?”

“Not from Lena or Maggie if that’s what you think.”

“No! That’s not- Rao! No!”

“Those two, especially Lena take contracts, even those NDA’s she was forced to sign, very seriously.”

Kara blushed under the weight of Kate’s quiet accusation. It wasn’t like she had told Alex to get her to sign them, it was just something the DEO always did when anyone found out. Silence fell between them for several minutes before curiosity got the better of her. “How then?”

“Well, I could claim that it was damn fine detective work that did it or hacking into DEO records but… Really, Kara… a ponytail and glasses?” Kate chuckled as Kara flustered beside her.

“I found out because I was reading a CatCo magazine not long after you turned up on the scene, researching who the new Super in town was in case you stopped off at Gotham one day like Superman sometimes does when he has a beef with Batman. I kind of drew a pair of glasses on a photo of you all caped up being all…” she struck a heroic pose as best as she could while sitting on the ground and left off the fact that she might have drawn a moustache on the picture later. “There was a photo of you, Kara Danvers, super-reporter you, on the next page and it was _so_ obvious. Lena was kind of pissed when she found out I knew already.”

Kara ducked her head back down again, shame for not telling Lena instead of letting everything drag out for selfish reasons weighing heavily on her. “I wish I’d told her sooner,” she sighed brokenly.

“Could’a, should’a. It’s a bit too late for ‘what if’s’ now. And you do know that she’s not even really angry at you for not telling her, right? ‘Cause although she said she didn’t know, after seeing that brilliant, steel-trap mind of hers in action, I think she didn’t know _only_ because she didn’t want to pry into your secret.”

“Alex told me that Lena knew about her being DEO all along… said that it wasn’t her secret to tell. I hate to admit it but, as much as I trusted Lena from the moment I met her I let what happened with Lex colour my judgement… though I think if I’d let it slip to anyone else Alex would have locked me away. Once I did trust Lena on her own merit I didn’t want to lose what I had with her as just Kara. She was so open and giving and I hid just so I could be human.”

“I can understand that, and I’m sure Lena does… or will… But it’s still not the reason she’s angry, Kara.”

“I know,” Kara sighed again. “Are you going to tell me that I need to talk to her too?”

“I don’t need to,” Kate patted Kara on the leg before pushing her way back to her feet. “You already know. Just don’t put it off too long.”

“Wait!” Kara leapt to her feet as Kate started to walk away with obviously no intention of using the door, Kara noticed. She turned mid-stride though but kept walking backwards at the same pace. “Do you know where Lena is?” Kara called after her.

“She got a call and hightailed it out of here first thing. Basically just said she was ‘unreachable’ when she spoke to Jess on the way out.”

Kara’s heart leapt up into her throat at Kate reached the edge of the roof and simply hopped backwards off the ridiculously short, knee-high ledge.

“Kate!”

Kara sped to the edge, moving so fast and instinctively that she wasn’t even aware of moving. Hovering over the edge, she looked around to get a bead on Kate’s falling body, hoping that she wasn’t too late!

Instead of a body falling or red staining the sidewalk, Kara caught only a glimpse of a smile as Kate swung nimbly in through an open window into Lena’s penthouse using a thin rope secured to the edge of the roof.

Kara sagged in relief, her body dropping several feet towards the ground before she righted herself and continued down to fly in through the still open window. She knew Kate was Batwoman and used to recklessness like that but seriously?

She was almost as bad as Alex when it came to throwing herself off buildings. And she let her know just what she thought about it as she settled down beside her and gave her arm a light slap that sent her sprawling across the arm of the couch to land on Maggie with a laugh spilling from her mouth.

“Hi, Maggie.”

“Get off me, you idiot!” Pushing against Kate’s shoulder, Maggie pushed the other woman off and upright to make room for Kara to sit between them on the couch. “Hi, little Danvers! Did dummy here not tell you that Lena isn’t here like she was supposed to?”

“Yeah. Then she gave me a heart attack by jumping off the roof so I thought I would come in here and recover for a minute,” she nearly blew it all by adding that she wanted to catch up with her former almost sister-in-law but she caught herself in time.

Kara hadn’t spent as much time with Maggie as she would have liked when she was going out with Alex, but with what she had, Kara had grown fond of her and missed her. Looking at her and Kate together, she could see a closeness growing between them that hadn’t been there when he had first seen them together.

It was a bittersweet thing to witness.

She was glad that Maggie had maybe found someone but she couldn’t help but acknowledge to herself at least, that there had been a faint glimmer of hope she had been holding on to, the part of her that really hated change, that had hoped that Maggie and Alex would find their way back together.

“How’s the investigation of Lockwood going?”

“Still pretty much the same,” Maggie sighed in frustration. “I’ve been getting in touch with my old contacts at the bar. Seems that there have been more attacks on the aliens than they have been reporting. Mostly bricks through windows, graffiti and things like that that was getting downplayed by the cops but it’s getting worse and they’re not reporting it because they think no one will listen. So, lots of fear and anger around there.”

“Why didn’t I realise it was so bad?” Kara chewed at her lips and gritted her teeth to still the roar of anger boiling through her.

“Hard to know when they won’t speak up, Kar. And—”

“And, what?”

Putting aside the paperwork she had been straightening after Kate’s sprawl across her lap, Maggie leaned forward on the couch so she could get a look at Kara’s eyes hidden by the fall of her hair as she leaned forward to stare at the toes of her boots.

“You, Kara Danvers, are quite literally sunshine. You thrive on hope and goodness. You see it in others when they don’t see it in themselves and that inspires them to want to do better. Definitely a glass half full kind of person. Whereas Alex is more of a glass half empty kind of person.”

“And you?”

“The glass is what it is.”

“Lena?”

“Hmm,” Maggie shared a knowing look with Kate over the hope and longing in Kara’s voice as she whispered Lena’s name. “She is a ‘the glass is empty but by god I’m going to fill it up and make it better!’ kind of person.” With a dash of ‘for Kara’ added on but Maggie left that unsaid as those two idiots needed to work things like that out for themselves.

“Yeah, she is like that,” Kara sighed wistfully.

“So gay,” Kate whispered ever so softly under her breath.

“Sorry, what was that?”

“Nothing! Listen… we’re going on patrol tonight if you want to go undercover and join us? Don’t worry, after Alex and Maggie chewed me out I’m not going in my suit.”

“You better not even _think_ of unpacking that again,” Maggie growled. “Batwoman is supposed to be in Gotham! You’ll just draw too much attention.”

“Or maybe strike some fear of the dark into Lockwood and Liberty,” Kate countered.

“Or send them into hiding again!”

“Or give the aliens another source of hope!”

“I repeat… it could send Lockwood into hiding!”

Kara’s head whipped back and forth as she looked between them. The volley ending as they both paused to look at her, waiting for her to pick a side. “Oh no!” Kara scrambled to her feet. “I’m not getting in the middle of whatever this is!” And the ‘whatever’ was starting to feel a hell of a lot like sexual tension to Kara.

“You’re no fun—”

“I am a lot of fun! I am the queen of fun! But I know better. Now, I think I’m going to go have a word with Jess, maybe she’ll know where Lena is?”

“Or you could just wait until she gets back?” A suggestion that seemed perfectly reasonable to Maggie but the crinkle on Kara’s brow said she thought otherwise. “Or not,” she added to herself as Kara left with a swish of her cape.

**********

Jess looked up from the pile of reports and contracts she was sorting out for Ms Luthor’s attention when she returned, her gaze drawn by a muffled apology and the clatter of something hitting the floor in the open plan offices laid before her.

Her frown at the disturbance morphed into a roll of her eyes as she caught sight of Kara Danvers rising from helping one of the interns gather up the folders scattered at their feet before placing them in a precarious pile back in their arms.

With a sunny smile that almost levelled the poor intern again, Kara straightened her glasses on her nose with a hurried push of her finger and started marching her way with speed and determination in her stride. With a move perfected from experience, Jess placed her hands on the neatly arranged piles of documents on her desk and held them steady as Kara burst into her office with enough force that it blew Jess’ hair back.

“Ms Danvers, how may I help you?”

“Please, you could start by calling me by my name, Kara?”

“I could… the question would still be the same though,” Jess pointed out not unkindly. “Would you mind helping me move these into Ms Luthor’s office?”

“Of course,” beaming at the fact that she was once again not getting kicked out, Kara picked up the pile of folders that Jess gestured to, and followed her into Lena’s office. It was a place of work, the colour scheme almost too cold and impersonal for Kara’s taste. And yet, just crossing the floor past the couch and moving to Lena’s desk… it filled Kara with a calmness that she was sure not many felt when following the same path and finding Lena Luthor in full business and kick ass CEO mode… all perfectly tailored clothes, sharp jawline and piercing green eyes.

“Ms Danvers… Kara, you can put those down now,” Jess reminded her, fearful that the papers she had spent ages getting ready for Lena were about to be crumbled into dust.

“Oh! Yes, right then.” Giggling far too loudly and nervously, Kara placed the tall stack down and smoothed some of the creases out of them while she tried not to notice that the office smelled of Lena’s perfume. “Do- do you know where Lena went at all?”

Folding her arms and practising her best ‘Lena Luthor’ look, Jess looked at the nervously hopeful woman before her. It had taken piecing together the reasons for Ms Luthor’s broken hand and her sudden barring of both Supergirl and Kara Danvers from L-Corp property for Jess to realise what had been right before her eyes. But then, it hadn’t been her place to see.

Yes, if she heard something nefarious about a business associate she was not above bringing that to Lena’s attention but that was part of her job. And if she had heard anything about Kara she would have done the same to protect Lena’s heart. Jess wasn’t sure what she would have done if she had found out about Kara’s secret identity first. No, that wasn’t accurate… she was grateful it had never come up while still feeling bad that she hadn’t worked it out sooner but hindsight meant that she had had a lot of time to mull over what her actions would have been. And, in an ideal world, she would have confronted Kara in or out of the suit, and demanded that she tell Lena the truth.

When she had worked it out and seen the state her ‘friends’ betrayal had left her in, Jess had gone to Lena and asked her what she wanted to do about it. She wasn’t sure what she would have done if Lena had ordered her to leak it to the press but fortunately that was something she’d never had to think about as Lena, even before Kara’s sister had shown up with her NDA’s for Lena to sign, had begged her to keep it to herself to protect Kara.

That obvious love for Kara Danvers, unrequited and maybe even unacknowledged by Lena’s own insanely brilliant and giving mind, was why Jess had started allowing Kara to work her way back into Lena’s life. They were both simply better when they were together.

“Jess?”

“I’m afraid not, Kara. When she called this morning it was just to let me know to cancel all her meetings for today. Whatever she is doing, it must be important as she’s turned her phone off too.”

Jess nearly jumped out of her skin as her phone suddenly chimed up with a familiar tone that only came from one source.

“Oh, that’s a message from Ms Luthor now.”

Kara watched nervously as Jess checked the message from Lena on her phone, her brow creasing slightly as she read it.

“Hmm, she wants me to reschedule tomorrow’s meetings too.” Jess was hard pressed to remember a time when her boss had last cancelled meetings like that… kidnappings, arrests and possible armageddons didn’t count.

“Is her phone still on?”

Jess cocked a brow at Kara but checked anyway, loading up the app Lena had created to be able to track any devices logged as belonging to L-Corp in case of emergencies. And as any emergency usually meant Lena being kidnapped, Jess was relieved that she had created it. “She’s turned it off again and disconnected it from the app so I can’t see where she was.”

“Okay. Well. If she gets in touch could you let her know—” Kara bit at her lip. She wasn’t sure if she knew what she wanted to let Lena know but fortunately, Jess smiled slightly and nodded her head as though she knew exactly what Kara wanted her to say.

Kara was glad that one of them knew.

Once she was outside of the tall L-Corp building, Kara fished out her own phone and pressed one of the two links that Alex had provided for a more secure way to contact the DEO. One of them was for her and the other was for…

“Brainy, I need you to do something if you can.”

“There is at least a ninety-eight percent chance that I will be—”

“Brainy!”

“My apologies, Kara, I was just making sure I was all clear to talk. Strangely I find that occurs quicker when I start listing probabilities.”

“Yes, that is strange.” Even though he couldn’t see her, or maybe simply because he couldn’t, Kara rolled her eyes.

“Was that what they call sarcasm, Kara?”

“Focus, Brainy! Lena just put in a call to her personal assistant, Jess. Is there any way you can trace where it came from?”

“Is Ms Luthor in danger? I could contact the Director.”

“No! At least I don’t think so… but no contacting Alex. And please, Brainy, be careful how you say her name just in case anyone is listening.”

“I am very much alone, but I will be careful.”

“Thank you. Hey, where is Alex anyway?”

“Down in the training room, re-educating some of the agents after the fight yesterday. Personally, I believe she was using a tone when she said re-educating and she simply wants a legal reason to beat them up.”

“Naw… after what happened I don’t think she would care if it was legal or not.” It had been terrible and Kara hadn’t even been there to see how the hatred she was encountering outside in the streets of National City had boiled over inside the DEO itself as ones sympathetic to the anti-alien rhetoric had revealed themselves in words that had boiled over into a brawl.

It had been so bad that Alex feared that if the President found out, they would be shut down.

Kara sighed, cupping the phone closer and lowering her voice as though that would give them more privacy. “Brainy, how bad is it?”

“It’s—” Brainy pulled himself up, reluctant to crush his friends hope further. “I believe with every part of me that it is nothing you- we, can’t overcome. In all the futures I have seen, the one constant had been that the universe it is a better place for all.”

Kara sighed. What Brainy said was reassuring and she hoped they did nothing to mess up that part of the futures he knew, but she wanted the now to be a better place too.

“I believe I’ve found what you want, Kara. I’m sending you the location now.”

“Thank you, Brainy.”

Hanging up, Kara opened the message he had sent through and looked at the map attached. “No way?”

With a steely look of determination in her eyes, Kara looked briefly around and strode into a nearby alley, her fingers already working on the buttons of her blouse to reveal the blue of her super suit below and the El chest emblazoned across her chest,

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A early gift as I actually had most of this one written before the chapter 10.

The wind whipped across Kara’s face and body as she flew out across the city and out towards the countryside. The heavy fabric of her cape, made from the blanket that had covered Kal in the pod on his journey to Earth cracked and snapped like a sail caught in the wind as it streamed out behind her.

Of all the things she was capable of doing while under the yellow sun of the adopted planet she called home, Kara loved being able to fly the most. Everything about it was amazing and freeing… as long as he remembered to keep an eye out for traffic of the big metallic variety as well as the birds and other creatures that belonged in the sky.

Fortunately, birds seemed to be even more aware of her in their space than she was of them and avoided her easily, and she had only had one pigeon use her as a convenient resting place when she had been hovering close to the ground. Even more fortunately, the way her body moved through the air meant that insects weren’t a problem as she could well imagine the teasing she would have to endure from Alex if she ended up with a face full of dead bugs every time she took to the sky.

The bustle of the city gave way to the sprawl of countryside with roads carving paths between fields and woodland and curving around and leaping over rivers that carved a meandering path through the landscape, like veins and arteries connecting homes and distant towns together.

From the sky it looked so different than any map, even a good satellite map didn’t quite allow for how weather, light and the slightest change of angle distorted what lay below. When Kara had first flown she had had to rely on roads to guide her until she had become more accustomed to her surroundings. Even in National City she still had to sometimes take a precious moment to orient herself as to what buildings to use as landmarks.

Even though she had only been to the place where Lena was once, the way was carved indelibly into her mind because of what had happened there and the fact that it was Lex’s mansion. The place that Lena had used to hide Ruby from Reign and keep her safe.

As buildings went, safe was definitely a word to describe it… another would be dangerous. It was a massive and imposing building that stood alone in an empty and otherwise unassuming looking field of poor looking grass with an unbarred gateway that has a plain metal box attached to a post to mark the location. There was no need for security, high walls or fences to guard the way. There was no manicured gardens, pools, tennis courts or even a long sweeping driveway to hint at the richness of the family that owned it.

Most of the time, anyone passing wouldn’t even know there was a building there at all. Only people local to the area and contractors knew but Kara was sure they had been paid an insane amount to keep quiet. The whole thing was protected from idle eyes an even those not so idle by some kind of shield that rendered it invisible to the naked eye until a code was entered into the plain box near the gateway or inside the house. Not even using her x-ray vision had helped to revel it when Kara had tried before.

Kara had asked Lena how it worked and Lena had responded by folding her arms tightly around herself in the way she did to contain any big reactions while the perfect line of her sharp jaw had tightened and the toe of her Louboutin had tapped up and down angrily. A thoroughly disgruntled pout that Kara had found quite adorable crossed her face before she admitted almost grudgingly that she didn’t know… YET!

Once inside, the mansion wasn’t subtle at all. It screamed wealth... and a not an unhealthy amount of narcissism going by all the portraits of Lex and Lillian on the walls and even statues that one glance of had been enough to convince Kara that she never wanted to go in the building again. Not that anyone was really welcome inside and anyone trespassing, especially in the lower levels, could easily find themselves on the wrong side of the automated weapons and booby-traps hidden within the fabric of the building.

It was not a nice place and not one that Kara had ever wanted to see again. And yet, there she was, hovering over the rooftop… which was thankfully visible for once, listening for the beat of Lena’s heart.

She could hear it, the familiar rhythm soothing her nerves even as the sudden rise in it and the muffled sound of Lena letting out an inventive string of curse words made Kara’s own heart trip over itself in worry.

Lena hated the place so what was she doing there?

With every step she took as she landed and entered the mansion, tracking Lena’s heart down, way down, into the depths, she expected to feel the sting of a laser hitting her, an explosion, the walls to close in or maybe even for the floor to drop out from beneath her feet but nothing happened.

And strangely that was even more unnerving!

Especially when she found herself in the room where they had been finally able to contain Reign. The damage that had been done in there had been cleaned up but there were still telling gaps in the displays and she believed that a couple of paintings had been put up to hide scorch marks and holes in the walls or maybe they had just been put there to brighten the room as they were too bright and sunny and did not match the rest of the feudal overlord aesthetic of the room.

Lena’s heart led Kara across the room to a gap in the wall next to a bookcase. A frown creased Kara’s brow as she tried to remember if she had seen it the last time… not that she had had much time to take anything like that in while being tossed around like a rag doll by the worldkiller.

Light beckoned Kara on as she descended a short flight of steps that looked like they had been carved from the bedrock beneath the mansion. Thankfully the width of the corridor that had lain beyond the thin gap had been just about spacious enough that Kara’s claustrophobia hadn’t kicked in but the sight of the light and then to wide almost cavernous space it came from was more than welcome.

Kara’s breath of relief was short-lived though as she took in what was before her… Her eyes drawn to a stomach-churning green glow.

“Lena?!”

“Kara!” Lena’s head snapped around, horror straining her voice as she took in the sight of Kara standing there in full Supergirl regalia in just about the last place on earth she wanted to see her. “Don’t move! Do not come in here!”

Kara didn’t realise she had been holding her breath until even her lungs protested and demanded she take another and move her feet instead of just standing there waiting to be struck down in agony. Stepping closer, she placed a hand cautiously upon the door and looked through the thick layers of material that stood in her way… she wanted to call it glass but it was too thick, too weighty and beneath the smallest amount of pressure she was putting on it, she could feel a buzz of energy that felt a lot like a more substantial version of the force field Lena had constructed to contain Reign.

“What’s going on, Lena?” Kara reached for the controls on the door as Lena’s heart rate spiked alarmingly.

“No!” Lena held up her hands beseechingly. If she thought she stood a chance of making it across the lab and out of the decontamination area in time to tackle Kara, she would have already been there already, no doubt looking like a feather trying to hold back a tornado but, as it was…

“Ms Teschmacher!!!!”

Kara blinked at the sheer force and volume of Lena’s voice and then blinked again as James’ personal assistant burst out of nowhere and ground to a halt at the sight of her with an incredulous look on her face, her eyes darting from her to focus intently on Lena.

“Yes, Ms Luthor?”

“Eve, under no circumstances is Supergirl allowed in here! Do you understand?!”

“Of course, Ms Luthor.” Despite the conviction in her own voice, Eve had no idea how she was supposed to accomplish such a task but she had dealt with the demands of Cat Grant so keeping Supergirl restrained would be a piece of cake… she hoped.

Kara looked on, kind of shocked and impressed as Eve straightened her shoulders and squeezed her way into the gap between her and the door and spread out her limbs to block her way. It was so absurd that Kara found herself just standing there rather than simply picking the other woman up and moving her. “Eve—”

“Listen, I know you could squash me like a bug if you wanted to, Supergirl... and I’m really, really hoping you don’t… but it really is for the best if you just do as Ms Luthor asks and wait out here until she gets everything contained.”

“Contained?” Kara looked over Eve’s shoulder, taking in the contents of the lab and what Lena was doing. “What is all this?” Using her x-ray vision, Kara tried to look in the rows upon rows of dark boxes stacked almost floor to ceiling. “Lead? Lena is that—” She didn’t need to finish her question.

As her eyes left the boxes and fell back upon Lena she saw the cause of the all too familiar and dreaded pulsing green glow brighten and reflected in the visor of the full body protective suit Lena was wearing as she stood up with a piece of rock clasped within a pair of tongues and transferred it to a waiting box. Just the sight of it triggered memories of the pain it could cause and had Kara’s blood freezing, her body stiffening in growing fear.

But there was still no pain. Whatever the ‘glass’ was made of, the protection Lena was working behind, it shielded her from the effects of it.

The glow faded, vanishing behind the protective layer of lead as Lena closed the lid on the box. And with it shut, Kara heard Lena’s heart rate dropping slowly from the full out distressed panic that had drawn her to Lex’s mansion. “Kryptonite?”

“Yes. And this is Lex’s.”

“Lena—” Kara reached to move Eve and go for the door again.

“Supergirl, please,” Lena begged. “Let me get this secured and I promise, I will explain everything.”

“Okay.”

“I know you don’t trust me but— Wait… Okay?” Lena glanced up, shocked to get such a ready acceptance and not the fight or accusations she had expected.

“Yes. I’m going to do what I should have done that first time… I’m going to listen to you, Lena.”

“Oh,” Lena blinked in shock again, her body sagging in a mixture of relief and confusion. “Well, in that case, would you mind waiting upstairs, Supergirl?”

“I’m staying right here.”

“I’m not going to do anything. It’s just very unstable and I would rather you were well away just in case it… well, explodes again,” Lena gestured around the lab, her move encompassing the fine layer of green granules that still covered the surface of the table before her and the protective decontamination cover-all she was wearing.

“That’s why I’m staying close, Lena. In that state it would be just as lethal to you,” and she knew Lena knew that too else her heart wouldn’t have raced and she wouldn’t have sworn so inventively. “If anything starts to go wrong I can get you out.”

Lena knew she would as she had already done it before, risked everything even her own life to protect her when kryptonite was around… and that was the problem. “I would still be happier if you were well away from this.” Stepping up to the barrier between them, Lena placed a gloved hand upon it beseechingly. “Please,”

“I know you would,” Kara smiled gently as she mirrored Lena’s actions and placed her own hand against the barrier so their palms were aligned. “So how about you do what you need to and we can both be well out of its range?”

Lena had never been a fan of being manoeuvred into doing something but at least Kara was using gentle persuasion and not the methods Lena was used to from others. Even so… “Okay,” she mumbled grudgingly. “Eve, have you finished cataloguing the rest of the room?”

“As best as I can, Ms Luthor. There are still some items I can’t work out from look alone.”

“Unfortunately, Lex wasn’t one for safe working practices so we’ll proceed with caution with those. I think it’s safe for you to leave the doorway now,” she smiled at Eve relaxed at her words and stepped away from Kara.

“Is there anything else you will be needing, Ms Luthor?”

“No, thank you, Eve. I’ll see you in the morning?”

“Bright and early!” Nodding her head at both obviously distracted women, Eve hurried from the room, eager to get to her car so she could call Jess and compare notes on ‘Operation Supercorp™’ — Trademark pending.

Kara listened to Eve’s footsteps echoing upon the stone flooring of the lower levels before they clicked against the expensive tiles and wood of the more ‘normal’ looking areas of the vast mansion compared to the mad scientist and dungeon theme where they were.

“I didn’t know Eve was working for you?”

“It’s more working with. Eve is brilliant and a brain like hers was wasted at CatCo running around after James.”

“James isn’t that bad—”

“Hmm, compared to Cat, maybe.”

“Cat wasn’t _that_ bad.”

“Kara. I hear that James still gets calls off one of her research assistants, Nia, asking where ‘Kiera’ put something.” Lena smiled as Kara threw back her head and let out an unrestrained, full-bodied laugh that was pure Kara Danvers and not at all keeping with the suit she was wearing. Comfortable, for the moment, that Kara wasn’t going to make any attempts to stop her, Lena returned to tracking down every last fragment, speck and microscopic trace of the kryptonite that had exploded until the sensors in the lab told her that the radiation signature that went with the green rock was as close to zero as it could be.

Only then did she make her way to the decontamination area and let the chemical sprays clean the bulky suit she was wearing. Unfortunately, the next part of the decontamination process had a very glaring problem.

“Erm, Kara, would you mind just turning around? I need to take this all off and I haven’t got much on underneath.”

Gulping hard at the thought, Kara spun around on the spot so fast she nearly got tangled up in her cape. Rocking back and forth on her heels she fiddled with the edge of it and tried, and failed, not to pay any attention to the sounds of Lena climbing out of the suit, or imagine what exactly constituted not having much on to Lena.

“Nearly done.” With one last glance at the readings on all the sensors to make sure it was safe, Lena opened the last door and stepped cautiously outside, her eyes searching for any trace of discomfort or pain from Kara but all she was doing was fidgeting adorably.

“You can turn around now Kara, I’m quite dressed.” There was a blush riding high of Kara’s cheeks as she tentatively turned around and was that a hint of disappointment in her eyes that had heat rising in Lena’s own as Kara’s brilliant blue eyes swept over her high-waisted pants and burgundy, silk blouse?

“Would you like something to eat or drink before we talk?”

“That depends,” planting her hands on her hips, Kara fixed Lena with a serious stare.

“Oh, and what does it depend on, Ms Danvers?”

“If you’ve got anything that actually tastes like food in this place?”

“Are you insulting the fact that I like kale again?”

“Lena! No one _likes_ kale! That stuffs is worse than kryptonite!” Kara pouted.

“I would threaten to throw some at you but the last time you accidentally got close to some you ended up rolling on the floor.”

“It was horrible!”

“Kara! We were in the middle of a very expensive restaurant at the time!” Laughing, feeling free in their banter, Lena looped her arm through the crook of Kara’s elbow. It felt strange still, the merging of Kara and Supergirl, the feel of the tight super suit stretched over the muscles of her arms. But she was getting used to it and found she didn’t mind as much as she had. Reporter, Superhero… it was still Kara.

“Are you okay?”

“Yes,” Lena gave her bicep a reassuring squeeze and tried not to let her imagination run away with her. “You- erm- We’re too far out for any delivery service but, you will be pleased to know that this place has several industrial-sized freezers that were stocked up with all kinds of bad-for-you foods for when Ruby was here.”

“Pizza? Ice cream?”

Lena found herself melting quicker than ice cream under Kara’s heat vision at the childlike enthusiasm in Kara’s eyes. “And more besides I’m sure. As long as you can wait long enough for the ovens to heat up there should be enough to fill even you.”

“Challenge accepted!”

“That… that wasn’t exactly a challenge, Kara!” Kicking off her shoes, Lena picked them up and set off after the quickly vanishing streak of red and blue. “Turn right at the suits of armour!” she shouted out before Kara vanished completely from sight.

By the time Lena made it to the kitchen, every one of the six ovens, and the pizza oven, was blazing merrily away and Kara had a glass of red wine waiting for her while she busied herself with a tub of ice cream.

“’S’good. Want some?”

Chuckling softly at how protectively Kara was clutching the tub of ice cream while she quite literally floated above the seat she’d been sitting in, Lena waved off her offer and sat in the chair beside her, gently tugging on her arm to get her to quit floating.

Feeling the first stirrings of a headache pulsing behind her eyes, Lena pulled out the pins and ties keeping her hair back in its too tight bun. Closing her eyes, she tilted back her head and sighed in relief as her hair tumbled loose.

Kara watched the spill of shining waves as it flowed and tumbled down around Lena’s shoulder. It softened and yet somehow heightened the sharply defined lines and angles of her jaw, made her look more approachable and yet even more out of reach. The sigh she gave was thick and had Kara shifting around in her seat, her spoon dangling forgotten in her hand.

Lena being vulnerable, allowing the walls of her control to come down, was always precious to her. More so after Sam had confided in her one time that it was a rare thing indeed and seemed to happen only when she was around. Kara wasn’t sure how true that was but she loved the thought of it and the fact that Lena was actually relaxing while she was wearing her suit. After everything that had passed between them, Lena had only seemed to allow herself to relax when she was dressed in normal clothes as though she’d forgotten that she was Supergirl at all.

But here she was, relaxing and doing that sighing again as she stretched and rolled her head and shoulders to work out the kinks in her spine and neck. It was very distracting.

“Here.”

Lena let out a little yelp, her eyes flying open before she realised that the sudden shift under her wasn’t an earthquake but rather Kara turning her chair around so that the back was towards her. “Kar- Ohhh.”

The ability to think left Lena as her body melted into mush under the soothing, nimble workings of Kara’s strong fingers as they worked upon the knots in her neck and shoulders. Her hands dropped limply to her lap a brief thought of ‘this is entirely not fair’ flickering through her mind as she succumbed to Kara’s familiar ministrations.

She’d forgotten, the memory suppressed by the anger she’d held on to for so long, just how good it felt when Kara took care of her in such a way.

Thumbs trailed down her spine between her shoulder blades. The slightest pressure from them would be enough to crumble the bones they grazed over to dust but Lena just purred under it, trusting her implicitly.

Kara listened to the beat of Lena’s heart and the quickening of her breathing as she swept her hands back up to work on her shoulders. The silky material of her blouse was nothing compared to the warmth and softness of Lena’s skin as she worked her way up underneath the curtain of her hair along the curve of her neck to the base of her skull.

“Is this okay?”

Lena swallowed hard as Kara’s warm breath stirred across her ear so sweetly and gently, the heat of her body seeping into her soul as she leaned closer, their cheeks brushing as Kara whispered in her ear. All she had to do was turn her head just a little and her lips would touch the sun warm heat of her nearly impenetrable Kryptonian skin.

Before Lena could do more than contemplate the act and how wrong it would be, even if it felt right, Lena felt Kara’s thick lashes sweep across her skin along with an even softer press of lips as Kara slowly eased back.

“Kar—” Lena wasn’t even sure what she was going to say beyond that breathy whisper of her name but she was interrupted by the almost simultaneous sounds of alarms going off to signal that food was ready and a thunderously loud growling from Kara’s stomach.

Laughing at the sound and the sheepish look on Kara’s face, Lena started serving up before Kara dove into the nearest oven to eat. “Self-preservation,” she smirked as she put a placed a pizza before Kara, “I don’t want that beast,” she looked at Kara’s annoyingly flat stomach, “to decide I look more appetising.”

By the time that Lena had seen to all the ovens and cut herself a modest slice from a vegetable one that Kara had actually managed to find in the and freezers amongst all the meat and cheese laden ones and thought to cook for her, Kara had devoured three whole pizzas and was well into the fourth. Really, it was amazing that Kara was able to keep herself fed as much as her metabolism demanded on her wage as a reporter.

Kara slowed down as Lena took the seat beside her again. The sight of the lone slice of vegetable pizza looked lost and forlorn upon her place… sad in its vegetable-ness… but, at least, she realised, she’d finally managed to break Lena of the habit of using a knife and fork to eat pizza it with. At one time that had been an almost impossible task and she still wasn’t sure if Lena did it just to torment her cause really… who ate pizza with cutlery?

Smiling softly, Kara raised a slice of pizza and raised it to touch Lena’s slice in salute.

“Careful,” Lena teased, “you might get some of my evil vegetables on all your greasy meat and cheese,” Lena smirked at the expression of utter horror on Kara’s face. It felt good to be there with her. An oasis of normal in the most abnormal of places.

With their hunger sated, Kara once more stilled Lena’s attempt to speak and had her lead the way into one of the smaller lounges… which was still double the size of her entire apartment. Kara reached out as they settled on one on the plush couches, gently stilling the nervous motion of Lena’s hands as they kept smoothing non-existent creases out of her pants.

“Okay.”

“Okay?”

“I’m ready to listen when you’re ready to talk. Did you know about… that?”

Lena didn’t need Kara’s pointed gesture to indicate the depths of the house to know what she meant. “No. I found that after that nasty business with Metallo.” Even with her head bent, Lena saw Kara’s incredulous, slightly horrified, glance. “I didn’t even know there was anything down there until the housekeeper stumbled on the doorway… almost quite literally. She was cleaning a bookshelf in the room where you took down Reign and when she went to move a book the shelf moved back.”

“Seriously?”

“Yep.” Lena grimaced at how absurd it was to have that kind of a hiding place. “Lex did have a flare from the dramatic but I thought he had a little more class than to have something so trite.”

“Why didn’t you say anything to me or the DEO?”

“Kara, even if we were still on better terms at the time I would have still hesitated to hand over a cache of unstable kryptonite to _anyone_ , let alone a secretive government agency that is known to create weapons from it.”

“I know that we’d only just started to get to know each other but you could have trusted me, Lena.”

“I do. I even mostly trust your sister. But… you and Alex are just two parts of a larger machine that I do not trust. I couldn’t risk it getting into the wrong hands. Into any hands.”

“Okay. What are you doing with it?”

“Trying to contain it long enough to destroy it. Lex was never as good in the laboratory as he liked to think and this is more unstable than the one mother used in Metallo. Lex probably knew that. Which is why he actually had the decency not to tell her it was there rather than risk it exploding in her face. If she had known… I hate to think what she could have done with it. Mother could be very inventive when it comes to revenge.”

Kara felt a shiver running up and down her spine just thinking about it.

“So that kryptonite you used on Reign?”

“Like I said… It really was mine. Only…”

“Only?” Kara desperately tried to keep her voice calm so that Lena wouldn’t put up the formidable walls she protected herself with, but she saw her flinch anyway. “Please, Lena. I’m not going to rush to judgement or anything this time. I just want to understand.”

“I first saw kryptonite several years ago. Lex brought it to me when Jack and I were only dreaming about finding a cure for cancer. He suggested I gave it a look to see if it would be of any use. I quickly worked out that it wouldn’t… and I also worked out the chemical makeup and realised what it might be for. I- I challenged him about it, what it was, and that was when I found out just how unstable his mind was becoming. He was such good friends with Superman… and yet he was plotting ways to kill him. At the time he said it was just in case Superman turned on us and like a fool I believed him because I didn’t want to believe he was no longer the brother I knew.”

Kara took Lena’s hand in her own and rubbed soothing circles on the back of it to comfort her. There was so much good in Lena, she knew it had to hurt to have seen her brother become what he had.

“He hacked my computer and stole all my research on it. Every single bit of evil he caused with synthetic kryptonite… it’s because of me, Kara.” Her voice trailed away in shame.

“You didn’t know—”

“No. But it was still my work that helped him and others do what they did.”

“You are _not_ to blame, Lena. You thought you were finding a way to help people and you have done that so often since then. You couldn’t know what Lex was planning. What he would do. That was all on Lex.”

“Maybe… but in the end, I did create some and… originally I didn’t do it to help Sam.” Lena winced, waiting for Kryptonian fury to rain down on her but all a cautious look got her was a calm indication to continue.

“Even before I came to National City I saw what Kryptonite could do to you… in all forms.”

“The red?” Of course, Lena would have heard about that and known the truth behind her behaviour.

“Yes. They did a good job of covering that up or trying to. But I recognised the effects from notes Lex had taken on his experiments. Red-K was something even Lex shied away from though, he wanted Superman dead, not to take away the morality that held him in check.”

Seeing the pain clouding Kara’s eyes, Lena placed a gentle hand upon hers. “I’m sorry. That must have been terrifying to go through.”

“It was,” Kara sighed. “It was every dark thought brought to life. I know— well, Alex finally made me see, that just because those thoughts were there didn’t mean I was bad. It was still hard to accept and to learn from it… to trust myself again.”

“We all have dark thoughts, Kara. Some more than others. Some drown in them, some fight to stay above it all… You were a victim who had any say in it stripped away from you by kryptonite.”

Kara stared intently at Lena, seeing clearly that she thought she was one of the ones fighting not to drown in the darkness when really she was the light shining through it despite what everyone thought about her and her name.

“After Metallo— I decided to see if there was anything I could do to stop it hurting you ever again. When I saw all that down there, I thought that would be a good starting point but it is just too unstable. So I made it better, so I could break it down.”

“You were trying to make an antidote?” Kara questioned in soft wonderment.

“Yes. Then Reign happened and I had to do what I’d always sworn never to do and made it into a weapon.”

“And you didn’t say anything before—”

“Because I was ashamed, Kara. You didn’t really know me and I feared that you would hate me and—”

“Lump you in with Lex and Lillian.”

“Exactly,” Lena grimaced.

“I should have trusted you more, Lena. With that and also with my identity. I was just so fearful that it would put an even bigger target on you.”

“Like that isn’t big enough already,” Lena scoffed.

“My main reason though, was that with you I got to just be Kara. Plain, ordinary, no powers, human, Kara.”

Lena narrowed her eyes playfully at Kara. “I opened jars for you, Kara Danvers.”

“And it felt good to let you,” Kara giggled unashamedly. Wanting to assure Lena that everything was okay, Kara draped her arm across Lena’s shoulder, offering the curve of her body for Lena to lean into. “On Krypton we were under a red sun, there were no powers for us. Then when I finally arrived on earth it was to find Superman existed. I had to juggle being a teenager and having powers that were a struggle to control at the same time as forgetting everything I knew and had learned on Krypton so I could fit into a new life with a family.”

“That- that couldn’t have been easy.” And that was putting it mildly as Lena couldn’t think of anything more terrible than what Kara must have had to go through being told to essentially forget what had happened to Krypton, to her family. Superman in a way had had it easier as he had arrived on Earth as a baby and had been brought up only knowing that life.

“No,” Kara smiled sadly. “Everyone was telling me to fit in, to conform and then there was Superman, someone from my home, doing all he was doing, being a hero. I wanted so badly to be like him so I could have a connection with him. And being able to do what I can… how could I just pretend and let people suffer?”

“Being Cat’s assistant wasn’t thrilling enough for you?” Lena teased gently.

“I hate to say it but some days I was praying to Rao for a reason to put on the suit to get away from Cat.”

“I’m sure even the President feels the same way,” Lena chuckled softly. She relaxed into Kara’s side more, enjoying the familiar warmth and presence of her as well as the less familiar feel of her suit. She played with the edge of her cape, running the alien made material through her fingers.

“Kara, I’m sorry that I didn’t tell you about the kryptonite sooner. I should have had more trust in you. And I’m sorry about all the lies I told you afterwards.”

“What lies?” Kara glanced down at Lena but with her head resting against her all she could see was the silky strands of her hair.

“That time in the lab when I told you we didn’t have a friendship… I was hurt and lashed out. Standard Luthor response to most things. And then in the elevator when we went to see Ruby… I lashed out again. I thought you would only believe Supergirl’s version of events and then I would lose the woman I— I thought I would lose my best friend.”

Kara glanced down again, curious as to what Lena had been about to refer to her as but Lena’s face was resolutely tucked against her in a way that screamed that not even all her Kryptonian strength would peel her off her to get an answer.

“I didn’t exactly give you a reason to trust me, Lena. I should have told you sooner everything about me. Lillian told me you would despise me once you found out and I was too afraid of her being right. Too afraid of losing you because of my secret and because of people hurting you because you knew. I should have trusted that you could handle it like you do everything else. A Super and a Luther… Kara and Lena … We’re stronger together.”

“El mayarah.”

“Yes,” warmth flowed through Kara, her heart thudding against her ribs in delight as those words came from Lena’s mouth, the pronunciation perfect in every way, even more so as her Irish accent softened it. But it was especially perfect as it was Lena saying it.

“It was something I should have remembered before attacking you how I did about the kryptonite. But especially before I threw your last name at you when we were in the dark valley. I don’t even know why I did it.”

“I actually have a theory about that.”

“You mean apart from me being an enormous douche?”

“I wouldn’t say enormous. But yes. From my time with Sam when she was in there and before she left, she said that the place ate at her, made her feel so much fear and hatred as it stripped away everything she was. I’m not Kryptonian but I felt it working on me too. And you were certainly acting out of character with all the moaning you were doing about the walking.”

“I still regret my words no matter what.”

“I know,” Lena gently squeezed the gentle but strong hand resting on her shoulder, marvelling as always just how gentle Kara could be when a careless motion could rip apart almost anything that stood in her way with ease. “I don’t want to be angry with you any more though, Kara. I can’t live like that and… I miss my friend. Also, getting mad with you was hell on my hand.”

She said it lightly, jokingly but her breath caught as Kara gently scooped up her hand and pressed lingering kisses to every inch of it before pressing her palm to her cheek.

“Next time I do anything that makes you want to slap me, give me a heads up and I’ll stand under a red sunlamp for you so you don’t break your hand.”

“How about… we just try not to do anything to hurt each other?”

“That sounds even better. How about we kiss on it?” Kara asked hopefully.

“I believe the proper form is to shake hands on it.”

“I prefer kissing.”

“Don’t think I haven’t noticed that, Ms Danvers,” Lena chuckled as she rose from the couch and started gathering up some paperwork she had found to take back to the office to check through.

“You don’t like when I kiss you?”

“It was, unexpected,” Lena muttered distractedly.

“But not pleasant? Am I a bad kisser? Did my breath stink?” Kara gasped in mock horror.

“What? No, you’re a good kisser.” Lena blushed as she realised the trap she had been neatly walked into by the smiling woman currently floating about a foot off the couch. “You! Really, Kara? Fishing for compliments?” Planting her hands on her hips, Lena mock glared at Kara but it didn’t put a dent into her beaming smile.

Lena had never been very good at games of seduction or flirting in any way, shape or form. Everyone had always been too afraid of the Luthor name to get close. But, deciding to take the upper hand for once, Lena put the best attempt at a sway in her hips as she could and strutted slowly back towards the couch. She expected for Kara to laugh at her attempts but instead, her blue eyes grew darker, hungrier, as they roamed up and down her body in a way that made Lena feel empowered and stripped naked at the same time.

Leaning down, Lena pressed her hand to Kara’s shoulder to press her back down to the couch. Blue eyes flickered back and forth between her lips and eyes and Lena couldn’t help but do the same. She wished she was daring enough, brave enough, to press her lips against Kara’s… but she wasn’t.

Bypassing the tempting curve of her lips, Lena pressed hers against Kara’s cheek. As she went to pull back though, a smile fixed on her lips to protect herself from any rebuff, Kara turned her head and their lips met and melded together like they were always meant to be.

Lena wasn’t sure which one of them moaned first or if it was she that moved to straddle Kara’s thighs or Kara that moved her, but she could hear and feel the vibrations of her moans mingling with the ones leaving Kara to pour into her mouth as their bodies came together.

As Lena pulled her head back, Kara chased after the softness of her lips, guided by the breath panting out of her. Eye fluttering open, she drowned in the swirling depths of Lena’s eyes as they changed colour, darkening as her pupils widened.

“No, we need to stop.”

Kara could hear no real desire to do anything of the kind in Lena’s voice but she froze, fighting for control as she respected her wishes. Loosening her grip upon Lena’s waist, Kara let out a shuddering breath and nodded slightly in understanding.

It was too soon.

Fingers stroked across her jaw, warm palms cupping her face to urge her head upwards to meet the soft and slightly wry smile on Lena’s lips.

“It wasn’t my intention to lead you on then, Kara. I’m sorry.”

“There’s no need to apologise.” Kara bit back a moan as Lena scrambled off her lap in a way that made things a hell of a lot worse for her nerves. “I was kind of asking for a kiss,” and, Rao, she got one alright.

“At least I didn’t bite you… probably would have broken my teeth if I’d tried.”

Kara just sat there and blinked, trying to work out if that meant that Lena wanted to bite her? She was definitely not thinking about her doing it or how it had felt when she had bitten Lena. Nope, not doing that, at all.

“You are thinking entirely too hard about something, Kara.” Lena narrowed her eyes playfully at Kara and ended up swallowing thickly at the hunger raging through her blue eyes as she turned to her. Entirely unbidden, her eyes dropped to Kara’s lips, her own tingling as she thought about how they had felt moving against her own.

“I- I think you had best leave.”

“Not until you do, Lena. I’ll follow and make sure you’re safe.”

“I’m staying the night so I can get to work early.”

“Then I’ll stay too.”

“Kara, I don’t want you anywhere near that stuff.”

“Lena.” Kara brushed her thumb across the back of Lena’s hand, stilling her protests. “I’m not leaving you alone with exploding kryptonite.”

“The barriers down there are sufficient to contain any explosion—”

“Then there’s no need to worry about me—”

“And no reason for you to worry about me—” Lena countered.

“Lena… I know you are capable of taking care of yourself so, for me, please, so I don’t end up worrying about you all night… just let me take you home.” The word seemed to have a strange effect on Lena. A soft mean suddenly burst from parted lips and she shivered next to her. “You can trust me… I won’t jump you.”

Unfortunately, right then, despite her determination and need to keep a little distance between them and anything that looked remotely like kissing… Lena wasn’t sure she could be so noble and promise the same back.

But, damn it, Kara whispered another soft as velvet ‘please’ and Lena felt herself weaken in her resolve. “Okay.”

Her reward came in the form of the soft press of warm lips curved in a smile against hers and the sudden appearance of a tube of ice cream and a spoon in her hands as Kara used an insane amount of super speed to raid the freezers again.

“Time for some more before we leave, right?”

 


	12. Chapter 12

As her town car came to another sharp halt, Lena barely managed to stop herself from grinding her teeth in frustration or from letting loose with a string of curse words that would make a sailor blush and have her mother glowering at her in disappointment… which was actually Lillian’s go-to expression since the day her father had brought her into their lives.

“Sorry, Ms Luthor. Traffic is terrible for some reason.” Glancing in the rear-view mirror, Marcus winced at the barely disguised frustration of her face. In all the years he had been her driver, one thing he could say for sure was that delays at that time of the day when she thought she had to be working, was very nearly out of Lena Luthors capacity to endure.

Frustrated with how her day had gone so far, Lena nodded sharply and allowed herself a little sigh as she tugged on the sleeves of her jacket. It wasn’t her driver's fault that there had been an emergency at one of the factories out of town that she had felt the need to check on herself. Nor was it his fault that traffic back into National City was so hellish that Lena was seriously giving thought to rushing research on teleportation devices, Earth-bound ones only, no more invasions, all so she never had to deal with another traffic jam again. Nor was it his fault that the hellish traffic jams had them trapped in an area of the city that seemed to be the main focus for some seriously nasty anti-alien graffiti that she saw every time she glanced through a window.

It was getting harder and harder every day… every hour, to maintain the façade of a supporter of Lockwood and the Children of Liberty but the straw that came perilously close to breaking the camel’s back had occurred three blocks back when she had glanced out and seen posters targeting Supergirl too.

Until then, all the hate had been focused upon aliens that looked… well… alien. But it looked like that was shifting if they were zeroing in on the literal ray of sunshine that had come close far too often to laying down her life to keep National City safe.

It was Lex all over again.

Lena felt a wave of nausea rushing up.

But where it had taken Lex years to get any public opinion on his side thanks to his fanatical tirades, this was spiralling out of control much faster. People and businesses were being attacked, the dark web had exploded with the kinds of chat rooms that would give the devil himself nightmares. And, on a more personal level, Lena could tell how much the tide had changed by how many of Lex’s old cronies and sycophants had come up to her, shook her hand and said, ‘well done’ or ‘Lex will be proud’.

Lena knew that Kara, Alex and those they knew they could trust at the DEO were working around the clock just as Maggie, Kate and the team in Gotham were, all to prove there was a link between Lockwood and the Children of Liberty and the increase in violence. Without a link they just had people interpreting his message and no way to legally stop him.

Lena was starting to wonder if giving in to her Luthor genes and playing things illegally wasn’t the way to handle him and the whole situation. Unfortunately, that would only end with Kara crinkling her brow and pouting at her. And disappointed Kara made Lena just as weak as every other side of her did.

And that was a proven fact that both Jess and Eve could swear to on a stack of bibles as only the other day they had witnessed her cave in to the pout and crinkle combo after she had tried to tell Kara she didn’t have time to go to brunch or even stop to have a doughnut with her that day.

Two seconds of Kara looking like she had kicked a orphaned puppy and Lena had cancelled an important meeting she should have been having and had been quite literally dragged to one of their favourite haunts for a long brunch that had stretched and slipped seamlessly into lunch and a softly stolen kiss on the couch at Kara’s apartment that had led to more and more kisses that had only come to a halt because of an emergency that had required Kara to don her suit and set out to right wrongs until she had landed on the roof of her penthouse hours later to ‘Netflix and chill’.

Lena hadn’t had the heart to tell Kara that for most people under the age of fifty, that wasn’t as innocent as it sounded.

Kara had been coming to her more and more since they had talked, in and out of uniform. Each time, Lena had been determined to stand strong as she was still feeling too raw from what had happened between them, the healing scars still too fresh and tender to endure close scrutiny. But each time, one glance at Kara standing before her, her shoulders slumped under the weight of the cape hanging from them and blue eyes tired and dejected from difficult missions… Lena had opened her arms and home to the girl of steel as she had crumbled and melted.

There, their time together, especially it seemed the simple times where they had shared a meal and binge-watched TV until one or both of them fell asleep, it had re-forged and strengthened Kara into the perfect blend of strength, caring and adorable dork that Lena was falling for more and more every day.

Lena dragged her thoughts back to the present as her phone started to ring. It wasn’t until she looked to see who calling that she realised that the car was in motion again, albeit at a snails pace.

“Jess?”

“Ms Luthor! Where are you?”

Lena frowned at the hint of panic in the voice of her usually calm and collected assistant. “I’m on the way back to L-Corp. What’s wrong, Jess?”

“No! Where are you exactly?”

“Stuck in traffic in the Old District.” It was also known more scathingly as the Alien District as it had one of the highest population of alien citizens in National City, but Lena refused to call it that.

“You need to get out of there, Ms Luthor! It’s on all the channels!”

Reaching out, Lena switched on the small TV screen before her and turned it to the nearest local news channel. Even with the sound turned down, she could see the panic in the eyes of the reporters doing war with their obvious glee of a thrilling story as a red banner flashed across the bottom of the screen telling her the same thing that Jess was.

“There’s been a coded call put into the police warning of bombs all around the city! A couple went off a little while ago!”

“Where, Jess?”

“One was at a clinic not far from where you are now… the one that was set up to cater for alien patients. The other was at the alien bar!”

“Okay, Jess, listen to me.”

“Yes, Ms Luthor.”

“Call a lockdown of L-Corp, no one in or out until the building has been checked thoroughly. Have resources from my personal accounts put on standby to help out anonymously. And get in touch with the heads of the hospitals, I want to talk to them as soon I get to my office! Coordinate with Eve if she’s available and Kane and Sawyer too!”

“Right away, Ms Luthor!”

“And Jess… stay safe!”

Lena looked around as the car inched forwards, the panic out on the streets pressed against the car and people ran by with fear clear in their eyes as they didn’t know which way to run. A Syvillian woman clutching at a young child fell against the car under the constant buffeting. Lena reached for the door but before she could open it to get them out of harm’s way an explosion went off behind them.

Out of the corner of her eye almost in slow motion, Lena saw the huge plate glass window of a storefront exploding outwards as a fireball of red and black plumed out and upwards. Across the street another explosion boomed out, catching those already moving to escape the first blast in its fury.

The explosions were both several car lengths back from them but the force of it rocked the car, lifting the rear into the air and shattering the strengthened windows.

Blinking, Lena looked at the dark, rough carpet covered in glass beneath her hands and digging into her knees.

Her ears buzzed, shock and the deafening explosions making everything sound distant and muffled as she struggled her way back off the floor of the car where she had been thrown. Reaching over the seat she gently shook her driver, Marcus’ shoulder, getting his attention to make sure he was okay. He looked at her, eyes wide and startled, a thin trickle of blood oozing from a cut on his cheek. His mouth started to move but as she tapped her ears to let him know she’d been somewhat deafened, he gave her a weak and shaky thumbs up, but at least it was a thumbs up.

It was kind of a sad reflection of her life that Lena was almost getting used to being caught in the middle of explosions. She was also getting used to the chaos that followed them too so it was almost with a feeling of ‘Really? Again?’ that came over her when she saw figures clad in ominously dark coveralls working their way through the felled crowds with weapons in the hands and hatred in their hearts.

Usually, on past experience, they would have been coming for her but she knew it was the aliens they were after.

Which was unacceptable!

Sliding back a carefully hidden panel, Lena gritted her teeth determinedly as she pulled out the weapon hidden there and primed it. Sleek and black, it fit snuggly into her hand ready to discharge rounds that would act much like a Taser but without the fiddly wires that made a Taser a one-use weapon. Marcus mirrored her actions, a fierce look of determination replacing the shock that had been there before as he met her eyes and nodded his readiness.

Lena pushed open the door and shot as she stepped out, catching one of the attackers in the chest as he started to swing around and bring his assault rifle up to use on the Syvillian and her child.

He went down hard, his body twitching helplessly as Lena kicked his rifle aside and helped woman and child to their feet while Marcus watched her back and took down another of the attackers before they could hurt anyone.

“Go through the buildings, it’ll be safer that way.” She steered them to the nearest one, pushing them into the hands of a worker at the bookstore who was ushering people inside to safety.

“Ms Luthor!”

Swinging around, Lena raised her weapon and stood shoulder to shoulder with Marcus ready to protect the people taking shelter as a group of the armed thugs rushed towards them. Her finger started to squeeze down in the trigger even though the odds looked impossibly against them but with a flash of red and blue, the odds shifted their way as Kara landed in front of them, protecting them from the hail of bullets before knocking them out with a ruthless burst of speed and punches that were just too fast to take in.

Lena’s vision filled with blue for a moment, the brilliant shade that was Kara’s eyes as she zipped back to stand before her, fingers trembling with emotion gently stroking across her cheek and jaw. Whether it was done to reassure her or Kara herself, Lena wasn’t sure but she found comfort in the brief touch and her strong presence.

“Go get them, Supergirl.” Smiling reassuringly, Lena gave Kara’s retreating fingers a squeeze and brushed her thumb across the back of her hand.

Kara graced her with a bright smile that had Lena’s heart tripping over itself in delight before a look of grim determination settled over her face. Knees bracing, she leapt into the air with such force she left behind small craters in the sidewalk and an impression of red and blue lingering in Lena’s eyes.

They helped for as long as they could until reinforcements arrived in the form of Maggie, Kate, Alex and teams from the DEO all riding sleek, powerful bikes to weave in and out traffic and Brainy arriving by air.

As things started to settle somewhat, people began to realise who was among them and, as usual, the Luthor name didn’t bring to mind good feelings and Lena found herself becoming the centre of unwelcome attention that forced her to relent to the urgings of Maggie and Kate to leave before anything happened.

Sweeping broken glass off the seat, Lena settled back and closed her eyes as Marcus manoeuvred the battered car through the hole made for them through abandoned and burned out cars.

Jess and Eve were both waiting down by the secret elevator as Marcus pulled the car up as close as he could. The looks on their faces as they took in the broken window, pitted paintwork, the dents left by falling masonry and bullets was one of horror but not shock.

“If I happened to turn on the news right now would I see my face?”

“You face and general badassery, yes.” Eve looked Lena up and down, her admiration for the other woman growing in leaps and bounds as it always did when she got to see what she was truly like.

“If you want I’m sure it could be spun to read like you were saving yourself?” Jess offered as they steered Lena and protesting Marcus into the private elevator. “Don’t be silly, man. You need to be checked out! If it helps, think of it as another part of getting Ms Luthor to her destination safely.”

“That I will always do.”

“Then good, get on the elevator.”

“I’m not sure I want to do that anymore, Jess. I hate the pretence,” Lena sighed at the thought of it and apologised gently to Marcus as she inadvertently pressed on an area that made him wince as she checked out the cut on his cheek. “Lockwood or not, this has gone too far and I refuse to have the Luthor name, my name, being branded around as a shining example of what they believe in.”

“Quite right, Ms Luthor,” Jess smiled and nodded her head firmly in understanding.

She had seen how Lena was in the years she had been working for her. The struggles she had faced both internal and external in an effort to prove to the world and herself that she wasn’t just another Luthor. She’s witnessed the carefully hidden tears when the accusations had become too much. And she had seen the way a certain reporter and superhero had given her the strength to fight on and be the force for good that she wanted to when just giving in would have been so much easier.

All this hiding and pretending to be rushing to the side of evil had maybe been fun at first for her, a little pretence with the advantage of pricking at the DEO and Supergirl for their lack of trust. But the longer it had gone on, the more people she knew and had maybe trusted in business had stepped up and actually congratulated her in seeing the truth about aliens, the more innocent people, aliens and human, that had suffered because those people had dared to step out of the shadows because a Luthor was once again on their side… It had been weighing on her so heavily.

Which was part of the reason why Jess had been so willing to ignore Lena’s huffing and had allowed Kara to storm back into Lena’s life again… why she had facilitated the two useless gays in the strange little courtship dance they had been doing since they had first met.

They needed each other. Needed the strength they gained one brunch and sneaked look and lip bite at a time.

And if Jess won the office pool at the same time that was just a bonus that would find its way to one of Lena’s many charities.

“I don’t think you’ll need any stitches Marcus but we’ll get Doctor Jacobs to take a look at that cut to be safe, okay?”

“There is no need for that, Ms Luthor. I’m sure I’ll be fine.”

“I insist, Marcus. You saved lives out there and it’s the least I can do for such heroic actions,” Lena patted his shoulder gently, all too aware that they were both no doubt covered in bruises they had yet to feel. “That and maybe an offer of a fortifying drink if you will care to join me. Lord knows I need one.”

“It would be my absolute honour, Ms Luthor.”

Jess shared a smile with Eve as Marcus puffed out his chest and preened under Lena’s attention. This was the side of her boss, Jess wished the rest of the world would pay more attention to. The unselfish caring… but, part of that side was not drawing attention to herself and what she was doing. She was just Lena, warm, caring and generous with her time and money, and not seeking out headlines and inches in the papers to better L-Corp stock prices.

As the elevator rose steadily, Lena busied herself by focussing on Jess and Eve’s reports on everything they had found out about the attacks and the arrangements they had made to help out the victims. Even that deep into the towering structure of L-Corp, surrounded by soundproofing, they heard and felt the shockwave of more explosions and sirens.

Lena knew that, once it was all over with, a map of where the attacks had occurred would show places and businesses frequented and owned by aliens.

Something pricked at the back of Lena’s mind. An itch that grew to a scream, demanding attention as they reached her office and she looked out of the window at the city laid before them.

“Something…” Frowning deeply, Lena inched out onto the balcony and dared herself to look over the side, overcoming her fear of heights with her need to see.

“Eve, pull up a map of the city for me… overlay it with where the bombs have gone off. Jess, pull up the business directory, find me the ones with the highest number of aliens working there and the highest profile aliens… expand for alien rights sympathisers but focus on aliens themselves first. Marcus, sit, help yourself to anything you want from the drinks cabinet.”

Instead of doing as she had said, Marcus made his way across the room to where Lena was pacing back and forth between her desk and clearing off the top of her desk with almost frantic speed, her brightly painted lips moving as she muttered to herself and kept glancing over her shoulder at the city. He had been her driver for many years, even going as far as to leave his home in Metropolis to continue working for her. He knew many things about her that no one did but right then, the woman before him was determined and troubled by something. He’d seen the same look when she was mulling over why something she was creating wasn’t working just how she wanted but this was the dial on that turned up.

“If you don’t mind me asking, Ms Luthor, what’s wrong?”

“I’m not sure, Marcus. Not yet anyway.”

Lena scowled at the puzzle laying before them as Jess and Eve brought in what they had found. Print offs and tablets lay strewn across her desk. Individual layers that she sifted through until they started to form into a fuller image within her mind. Flicking between them, her fingers flew as she sent the data to the large, flat-screen display hanging on the wall.

“They’re all decoys,” she stated assuredly.

“But, they’re killing people!”

“Unfortunately using a small device to control the scene is an old tactic. One that Lex was well versed in,” she gritted out past clenched teeth. “There are two ways to use them. First, there’s the small explosion, still deadly cause why the hell not. It herds people away from that area only for another bomb to go off or gunmen to strike where they’ve gone for safety moments later,” as she spoke, Lena pulled up news headlines that showed examples of what she was talking about, throwing them at the screen like she wanted to get rid of them before they contaminated her.

“Another popular use, one of Lex’s specialities, is what I believe is going on out there. The small explosions are all grouped on one side of the city even though there are just as many soft targets all around,” she pulled up a map of the city, overlaying it with markers that indicated alien owned businesses and hangouts and where the explosions had taken place.

“To what end, Ms Luthor?”

“It’s pulling all the emergency resources away to the south of the city. Everyone. The police, fire, paramedics, the DEO and Supergirl. The roads will be just about impassable with the chaos and Supergirl can only be in one place at a time. They’re fighting small fires not realising there’s a huge volcano about to go off.”

“But,” Marcus frowned at the map, he could see what she was talking about as clear as anything but there was just so much of the city to look at. “Where’s the volcano?”

“Usually I would suspect I was sitting on it but this isn’t Lex or Lillian at work… for a change. All the attacks so far are to do with the alien populace. Even though humans are getting caught up in it, it’s their businesses. If I’m right the main attack is going to be high profile.”

“The DEO?!”

“A possibility,” Lena admitted. “Even after all these years though, they still manage to fly under the radar under the guise of being FBI. No. An attack on them will still appear like an attack on humans. Same for L-Corp and CatCo.”

Lena ran her eyes over the map of the city, searching for a likely target.

“There! The new power plant!”

She zoomed in on the area of the map and quickly pulled up recent headlines on it. “The owner is a known advocator of alien rights, really outspoken. Lockwood even mentioned him during one of his last ‘meetings’ because he has recently hired an alien to run the place. Lockwood was raving, claiming that the alien was hired over more qualified humans.”

“What do we do?”

Lena crossed her arms, holding herself tightly as she went over everything. She was sure, she knew she was and yet… there was a voice in her head that sounded suspiciously like some horrific amalgam of Lex and Lillian in her head mocking her and asking what if she was wrong and that wasn’t the target?

“Jess, Eve, I need you to call Maggie and Kate… Alex Danvers too, give them a heads up.”

“Yes, Ms Luthor!”

“Marcus, call the police and the power plant itself, get someone to listen to you about evacuating the building.”

“On it!”

As her office emptied, the doors closing on their raised voices, Lena quickly scrolled through her own list of contacts.

“Lena! Not that I don’t love hearing from you, ‘cause I do love you… Hearing from you!… But… Kind of busy!”

“I know. Trust me, I know. But this is urgent, Supergirl!”

Kara quickly tossed the bomb she was holding high into the sky and blasted it with her heat vision. She knew that Lena would never use that name while calling her unless it was for something hero related. “What’s wrong?”

As Lena filled her in on what she suspected, her voice rising urgently with her words, Kara shot skywards, hovering above the buildings as she matched what Lena was saying to what she could now see.

As she came to the end of her hurried explanation, Lena felt sure that Kara would question her. A dark part trampled under foot and damaged by Lex and Lillian thought she would scoff and say she was a fool. But this was Kara.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes… As sure as I can be anyway,” Lena bit her lip and then heard the distinct sound of air rushing across the phone as Kara sped across the city and saw the path of her flight as she looked out of the window.

“I’m on it!”

“Be careful, Kara,” Lena begged softly.

“Netflix and chill tonight, right?”

Choking slightly as Jess and Eve returned and grinned wildly, Lena quickly took the call off speaker. “Yes, Netflix… Mhm! I’ll see you later!”

“Cool!”

Lena looked at the smirking duo and wondered if it was worth her time explaining that despite being on the earth as long as she had, Kara still didn’t always grasp some of the intricacies of popular culture. Especially ones that pertained to _that_ side of it. “Listen—”

“Ms Luthor! Ms Luthor!”

“What’s wrong, Marcus?”

“News! The news!” Marcus waved wildly at the screen. Thankfully she seemed to get what he was too stressed to say and changed it to show the news.

“… To repeat, video footage has just been handed to us showing Lena Luthor and members of a clandestine agency, working with Supergirl to subdue humans that were rushing to assist and offer aid after bombs exploded downtown…”

“… They like to act like they are on our side when really they are working against us! Innocent humans gunned down and blown up all as a ruse to convince us that they can save us and play god! So we will feel weak and accept their rule! It happened in Metropolis where my life and countless others died in the scheme created between Lex Luthor and Superman and it is playing out again here is National City! Well, I say no more! No longer will I stand idly by while we allow ourselves to be ruled by aliens posing as false gods! No longer will I stand by while our jobs… our homes… our very lives are stolen! Join me! Help me to restore health, vitality and security to this country!”

Lena stared at the screen in horror as Lockwood ranted at the reporter and whipped the crowd around them, no doubt filled with his own people, into a frenzy that increased tenfold as Supergirl flew overhead.

Her horror turned to incredulity as Agent Liberty’s armour folded back to reveal that it was an empty shell that Lockwood stepped into.

“… And I, as your Agent of Liberty, will stand with you as we dare to put… Earth First!”

The armour closed up around Lockwood’s body, the pieces fitting seamlessly together as the crowd chanted…

“Earth First!”

“Earth First!”

“Earth First!”

… as he took off into the sky on a burst of jet-propelled air that carried him in Kara’s path towards the power station… a sickeningly familiar green glow leaving the faintest of trails in the wake of his right hand.

“No… No, no… No! Call them back! Call them back!”

With desperation flooding her, Lena stabbed frantically at her phone, willing Kara to pick up just once more! But there was no reply! Not even a dial tone!

And then the sky lit up in a fireball that climbed high into the sky…

The wave of the explosion washing across the city, blowing out windows and cracking concrete as the power station collapsed in on itself.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not much Kara this chapter but I hope you enjoyed Lena being a badass :)


	13. Chapter 13

_“… Lena, you need to come to the DEO, now!...”_

The words and the panic in Alex’s voice echoed in Lena’s mind. Playing over and over on a loop as the elevator bore her back down to the parking area.

_“…You need to come to the DEO, now!...”_

_“…You need to come to the DEO, now!...”_

_“…Now!...”_

_“…Come…”_

_“…Now!...”_

Lena knew that objectively the levels of the towering building were going by quickly. Her brother hadn’t skimped when it came to what was an escape route if things went wrong. Short of destroying the advanced technology that controlled it and letting it free fall, there was no faster elevator in National City and there were no stops to delay it on its journey down the building. But she wasn’t feeling very objective right then!

Not after what she had seen.

That green glow was unmistakable to Lena… her nightmares had been plagued with it for years since she had unwittingly unlocked the key to making it for Lex.

Had Lockwood gotten a hold of some from the DEO via his mole?  Had he somehow found out about the veritable mountain of it at Lex’s mansion that she was still making her way through? Had he somehow made his own?

All three conclusions and many more besides just filled Lena with guilt. Unless it was somehow a piece that had somehow found its way to Earth, blown there by chance and the force of Krypton’s destruction… it was all made by the recipe she had discovered.

Whatever had happened to Kara, and Lena was in no doubt that something really bad had happened. Alex didn’t sound like that for no good reason. And from experience, she knew that that specific tone was reserved for her sister.

No matter what, it was all her fault!

Every bit of it.

Lockwood was only in National City because of her, because of the games she had started playing in Gotham to lure him out. And she had only been wallowing in Gotham because of the Kryptonite.

Her reasons for making it had been purely good but it had still been used to hurt her… just how Kara had feared it would.

Lena allowed herself only as long as it took the elevator to reach the bottom for all the self-doubt and recriminations to weigh her down. Not one second longer.

From what she also knew about Alex, it was that if Kara was dead there would have been no force on earth, in heaven or hell, or on any planet, in any galaxy or multiverse, that would have been strong enough to stop her from exacting her revenge. And while Kara was alive, no matter how bad it was, Lena refused to give up hope no matter how tenuous it seemed.

She was Lena Kieran Luthor. She was a genius. And she didn’t quit!

“How is she?” Lena barked at Kate even before the elevator door had finished opening to reveal the other woman standing there next to the sleek, powerful bike that she had pulled up as close as she could get it to the elevator.

For once, Kate held back any quip she might have made in different circumstances. Even if she had been in the mood after what she had seen throughout the city and when they had all rushed to the power station after the explosion, she could tell that Lena wasn’t.

“It’s not good—”

“Just tell me! Please, she finished softly, swallowing back the sting of tears.

“She’s alive… barely. The bastard had a Kryptonite blade but even though they got her under sunlamps she’s not healing. Lena,” sighing softly, Kate placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. “They’ve got J’onn flying around as Supergirl to keep up appearances for the public and Lockwood, so don’t be shocked if you see that. Really though… they don’t think she’s going to make it and she asked to see you so she could—”

“No!”

“Lena—”

“No, Kate! That infuriating woman doesn’t get to breeze back into my life… kiss me and make me fall in love with her and then die from this! No! I won’t allow it! You get on the phone and get Alex to tell Kara that if she even thinks of dying I will personally bring her back to life just so I can kick her arse and I will travel through every multiverse and kick the arse of every other version of her while I’m at it too! If she wants to say goodbye to me, she can say it standing on her own two feet when this is over with and not from her deathbed!”

Kate was under no illusion that if there was anyone that could force Kara to survive just by the strength of her will and the bloody-minded determination in her glare, Lena was that woman. Unfortunately, there were some things that were out of even Lena Luthor’s control.

“Lena— Lee! Wait! Where are you going?!” Kate blinked and rushed after Lena as she stormed off deeper into the parking area, her high ponytail swishing angrily with every determined stride that had her heels echoing like gunshots around the concrete walls. “Lee!”

Following Lena into a strangely located and very uninviting restroom, Kate darted through what looked to be an inconspicuous gunmetal grey door that housed cleaning supplies before it could close behind Lena. Really, she should have known better but she was still taken aback when, instead of finding herself in a just a simple closet full of cleaning supplies as the sign on the door had implied, which would have been ironic and uncomfortable for many reasons, she found Lena stepping through another door disguised behind shelves full of paper towels and toilet paper at the back of the small closet.

“Jesus, Lex was fond of his secret rooms and passages, huh?” Kate whispered loudly as she followed Lena down into the dimly lit depths via a short flight of stairs. “I thought that Bruce was bad but this is a whole other level,” she mumbled as a series of lights hidden into the walls, ceiling and even the floor of the corridor buzzed into life.

“Thanks… it’s mine,” Lena smirked. “I had it installed just in case Lex ever decides to break out of maximum security and visit. I wanted something he didn’t know about.”

“I can understand that, but why in the name of God and creepy secret passages are we down here? Wait, did you tunnel into the DEO building too?”

“No… but that could be an idea for my next project once we get Kara back into the sky.”

Lena,” Kate sighed sadly.

“No! I mean it, Kate. I’m not letting her die.”

“Then— Wow,” Kate breathed out, distracted as the lights came up in the room they had stepped in. The corridor had really been more like Lex, bald and ugly, but this, this had Lena’s grace and style stamped upon every item. “I didn’t know there was another lab down here?”

“Yes, well thanks to the Worldkillers putting a great big hole straight down into the other one, everyone knows about that. This is the lab I keep off the books… one of them anyway.”

“Lena… God help us if you ever did decide to give up on all the good you do and turn to the dark side.”

“Don’t worry, I haven’t started looking into volcano lairs just yet,” she arched an eyebrow teasingly even as she mentally went over a list of what she needed to gather together.

“So, why are we here?” Kate questioned again as Lena started furiously rummaging through cupboards and drawers like a woman possessed, pulling out bits of equipment that looked both complex and deadly to Kate to get to what she wanted.

“This! This is why we’re here,” punching the combination into a carefully concealed number pad, Lena listened for the sound of the locks disengaging as it accepted the numbers and the scan of her fingerprints. Opening the door, she waved aside the tendrils of fog built up from the refrigeration unit within and carefully extracted several vials of serum from amongst the other there, selecting the precious ones that glowed with a golden yellow hue and slotted them into a padded protective container. The vials were designed to stand up to just about anything but she wasn’t going to take a chance with something so important.

“Come on,” grabbing the bag of supplies, Lena headed back towards the exit. “Kate, now! Or I swear I will take your bike!” she warned as the other woman stood there still looking around as though trying to memorise everything. The threat to her bike worked wonders though and her head whipped around.

“You don’t know how to ride!” Kate assured herself.

“You don’t know half of what I got up to in boarding school… Okay, riding motorbikes wasn’t one of them,” she admitted. “But I’m smart and I will take your bike and ride it into hell itself if I have to!” she threw over her shoulder warningly.

Deciding that she really didn’t want to risk Lena heading out into traffic, Kate hurried after her and only just made it to the bike before she did. Damn but that woman could move even in ridiculous heels!

“Knife!”

Rather than ask, Kate flipped open one of the butterfly knives she had hidden in her jacket and watched as Lena calmly cut the side of what was no doubt an extortionately expensive skirt all the way to the top of her thigh so she could move freely enough to swing her leg over the seat and climb on behind her.

Accepting the helmet Kate gave her, Lena held on as she started the engine and took off through the dimly lit area with the kind of lack of regard for speeding restrictions that was needed… even if it was more than just a bit terrifying.

“How bad is the damage at the power station?” Lena tried not to yelp as Kate leaned from side to side, shifting her weight as she swung the bike around abandoned vehicles and piles of rubble that littered the way.

“All things considered… For fuck's sake! Move! … Not as bad as it could have been. Thanks to your warnings, we believe that everyone got out in time. There were some injuries but as far as I know, they were none fatal. And whoever made the bomb didn’t make it strong enough to take out everything there. The main part went in the explosion but the target was the control room and the people working there. The backups and the old power station look like they’re picking up the slack. Gonna be a hell of a lot of cleaning up and rebuilding to do though,” she grumbled as she avoided masonry and glass still falling from the front of the buildings.

“Yeah, we kind of unfortunately get used to it here though. Lots of picking up to be done after Supergirl has to throw down… or when she gets thrown through things. Lex always used to say it wouldn’t be like that in Metropolis if Superman would leave. That he attracted bigger foes looking to square off against him. And then he decided to be the biggest foe and killed a lot of innocent people like he was trying to prove a point.”

“The same was said about Bruce once. He let it get to him and retired for a while… Then he had to come back when Joker and Two-Face were going toe-to-toe fighting over control of Gotham and they, and Bruce, realised that he wasn’t the problem. People like that are just generally shitty and it’s how we respond to it that matters. The Supers’, especially your, Bae, she’s annoyingly hopeful. Seriously, just being around her is like being exposed to the sun. I had to ask Maggie to check for sunburn the other day after she gave one of her inspirational speeches.”

“She is good at them,” Lena smiled softly.

“Bruce, he believes is scaring the bad guys and putting the fear of bats into them, but that also scares the good guys. Kara… she inspires everyone around her to do better. To become more than they are and to fight for what’s right.”

“I know, it worked on me too.”

“Oh, Lena. You’ve always been good.”

“I wouldn’t be too sure of that.”

“Well I am and so is little miss sunshine. Yeah, maybe you dip into the grey areas a bit too much for her every now and then but will all do. You, unlike your family, know when to step back out and readjust. Now, hold on tight!”

Looking over Kate’s shoulder, Lena felt her usual cool and calm demeanour forged while under Lillian’s gaze and while facing down cutthroat businessmen starting to slip and crack as Kate pointed her bike at what looked to a solid wall of rubble from a downed bridge and actually revved the engine.

“What are you— Kate! … Slow down!” If asked, Lena would deny it, but she squealed as she tightened her hold around her friend’s waist… her ex-friend, she decided as Kate’s joyous laugh rang through the Bluetooth in the helmet in direct conflict with the fear Lena was feeling as she made use of some downed scaffolding and shot them straight over the rubble.

“I’m going ta feckin’ kill you!!!!”

*********

Alex could almost feel it as Lena Luthor entered the building. She strode in, riding a wave of power that went beyond her reputation as a Luthor and her expensive clothing. She just exuded an aura that commanded respect and had even trained, battle-hardened armed DEO personal getting out of her way. And as much as she hadn’t wanted to believe it in the beginning, Alex knew that was all Lena, that it had nothing to do with her last name.

“She’s here, Kar.” Alex gave Kara’s hand a tender squeeze. The fragility in her fingers as she returned her action chilled Alex. When Kara had first come into their lives, she had had to work so hard to learn to control her all her powers but especially her strength so as not to hurt any of them just with the hugs she so desperately needed to give and feel. At that moment though… there was no strength left within her. The Kryptonite had left her too weak to even lift her hand unaided or even take a breath without the help of the respirator she was hooked up to.

Not wanting Kara to see her cry, Alex pressed a shaky kiss to her sister’s forehead, fighting not to focus upon the green veins pulsing across her skin. “I’ll go get her for you.” _So you can say goodbye._

Alex hurried out of medical before the thought could take hold and bring with it a flood of tears.

Even though she had spent her life protecting Kara she had always had it in her mind that Kara was indestructible and outlive them all and now… she was helpless… dying… not even enough time left with the sunlamps working overtime to try and hold back the progression of the Kryptonite poisoning for her mother to get there to say goodbye.

“Lena—”

“Where is she?”

“Medical.” Stepping aside, Alex gestured for Lena to walk ahead but the other woman slowed her pace to walk beside her.

“How is she?”

“Not good. Lena,” touching her arm, Alex drew her to a halt. “Listen, I know we haven’t always seen eye to eye, but I just want to say how grateful I am for every time you have helped us… helped her.”

Lena covered Alex’s hand with her own, stilling her words so she wouldn’t have to hear the defeat within her voice. “Alex. I’m not letting her die.”

“It’s Kryptonite—”

“I don’t care what it is, Alex. Now, shall we?”

Despite her resolution and the steel in her voice, Lena found her steps faltering at the first sight of Kara… laying on one of the ridiculously too narrow beds in the medical room. Usually so full of life even when she was under the guise afforded her in her job as a reporter for CatCo, she looked so small surrounded by the machines beeping and flashing as they measured her vital signs.

“Oh, Kara,” biting back a choked sob, Lena crossed the room and stood beside the bed. She ran her eyes up and down the length of Kara’s body, taking in the green visible beneath her skin as it pulsed through her veins. She didn’t dare look at her face, not then… she just couldn’t bear to see the pain in her eyes… not when the words Kara had spoken describing the pain Kryptonite caused was far too fresh in her mind.

_“You think that I should be grateful that you learned how to make the one substance on this planet that can kill me? … Do you know what it’s like to walk into a room and your skin feel like it’s going to be seared off your bones? Or like nails are running through your blood? That’s what Kryptonite feels like … I need to be the only person in control of Kryptonite on this planet! … This substance is so lethal to me that I can’t risk encountering it by mistake.”_

Lena had memorised every word Kara had spoken, committed it to memory right along with the spoken accusation she had heard, and the unspoken ones blazing along with the pain of betrayal in her blue eyes, that she thought she would use something like that against her.

And she had. Not directly. But she had.

“Lee—”

Startled out of her thoughts by Kara’s shaky voice, Lena’s gaze shot up the bed to Kara’s and found her struggling to remove the mask helping her to breathe. “No- Hey, don’t!” Reaching out, she gently restrained Kara’s hands. “Don’t try to talk. That can wait until you’re better.”

“Need- to- tell you—”

“Shhh,” Lena quickly pressed her back down and put the mask back on as she started to cough raggedly and choke from the lack of oxygen in her lungs. She gradually subsided back against the thin padding on the bed, her eyes fluttering shut. Blood seeped from beneath the bandages covering her stomach, a spreading tide of red, startlingly bright against the white.

“We can’t get it out,” Alex whispered even though Kara was quite obviously unconscious. “According to all the sensors her body is riddled with Kryptonite but there’s nothing there we can see big enough to remove. Brainy theorised that Lockwood used some kind of injection system that pushed powdered Kryptonite into her. Knowing how doesn’t help though as we can’t remove it or make it safe while it’s in her.”

“I can.”

“What?” Alex blinked at Lena, not quite sure she had really heard her right or if she only heard what she’d wanted so desperately to hear.

Hope.

A miracle.

Who knew she would get both from a stunningly beautiful woman with the last name of Luthor?

“I’ve been working on this for a while now… it was why I was originally creating Kryptonite,” Lena explained, handing Alex the container with the vials in as she worked quickly to change over the drip attacked to Kara to one that would help the solution work faster. “I was hoping I would never have to use this and I kind of hate to do it now… not for any nefarious reason,” she started even though Alex was too busy gazing at the golden liquid to say anything. “You know me, Kara…” gently, she stroked a hand through Kara’s hair, tucking it back behind her ear. “I hate to reveal my inventions until they’re working right. And I was really hoping I would never have a reason to finish this one.”

“You made a cure for Kryptonite poisoning?”

“I really hope so anyway. Now, if this works right, you might want to have a red sunlamp ready to stop her body from rejecting the needle from the drip.”

Taking the vials from Alex, Lena carefully filled a couple of syringes. “I’m not too sure how much this will take… but… I’m thinking if we administer by drip and give a direct shot to where the blade pierced her skin… And in the meantime, I’ll get Eve to start making some more.”

Nodding, Alex quickly cut the blood-soaked bandages away from around Kara’s stomach, peeling them aside to reveal the almost innocuously small wound where Lockwood had plunged the spring-loaded Kryptonite blade mounted to his wrist. “You inject onto the drip and I’ll do this, yeah?”

Getting a nod from Lena, Alex took one of the syringes from her. Taking a couple of calming breaths, she offered up a silent word to God and Rao both, and pushed the long needle deep into the wound and pushed the plunger home.

“And now, we wait,” Lena whispered quietly.

**********

Waiting was agony.

Alex wanted desperately for the golden solution Lena had created to work instantly. For her sister to leap off the bed ready for action with her usual puppy made of sunshine exuberance. But she remained so still. And while, blessedly, she didn’t worsen. She didn’t wake up either.

She saw Lena almost worry a hole in her lips despite her pulling on her stoic CEO mask to hide her feelings behind. And, despite offering up what she supposed were comforting words of platitude about it taking time… Lena stayed glued to Kara’s bedside collecting a steady supply of undrunk coffee.

Not that Alex was faring much better.

She had a job to do as Director of the DEO… which she handed back to J’onn so she could remain at Kara’s bedside too along with instructions that she only wanted to be disturbed if the building was burning down, and then it better be a damn good fire, or if Lockwood crawled out of whatever sewer her was hiding in so he could beat him to death.

As the day turned into night, Alex stirred long enough to fall into her mother’s arms as she arrived and then she returned to her vigil with her at her side. Lena didn’t even stir from where she was slumped with her head resting on the edge of the bed, her fingers wrapped around Kara’s wrist as though she was counting her heartbeat in her sleep. And maybe she was as the slightest change in it had Lena waking instantly, her green eyes checking over every machine and Kara’s body to assure herself Kara was okay before allowing herself to settle again.

“You should lie down, Lena. Make use of one of the beds.”

“Secondly, these beds are a crime against nature. Firstly, I’m not leaving her, Alex, not even that far. I can’t.”

**********

Swimming through the darkness that weighing down her limbs, Kara following the lulling beat of a heart. It was one she knew so well, even above that of Alex or Eliza’s. She could track it anywhere, pick out the sound of it even above all the sounds crowding in at her from the city she protected. It was her touchstone, her guide. It calmed her when she felt like she was drowning.

It was home.

It was love.

It pulled her forward with a growing urgency as she heard it picking up, accompanied by soft, distressed whimpers and broken off sobs.

Opening her eyes felt like the hardest thing Kara had ever had to do but she struggled and persisted so she could get to Lena and chase away whatever was causing her distress. Finally, she did it and blinked around the room, trying to make sense of where she was.

Bed…

Hard bed…

The smells…

Chemical…

Medical?

DEO?

A hand clasped in hers…

Soft… warm…

Shifting her head upon the lumpy pad that passed as a pillow, Kara managed to focus her eyes upon the sight of Lena slumped within a seat pulled up close to the examination bed she was lying on, her fingers entwined with hers. With her head resting upon the bed, her loose hair spilling across the covers in shining, inky waves.

Loath to disturb her, Kara brushed her thumb back and forth across Lena’s knuckles, soothing her as she whimpered softly in her sleep again. The movement was small but Lena’s head lifted anyway, her eyes laser focused upon their fingers. A soft, hopeful gasp spilt from her mouth and her eyes darted up and locked upon hers.

“Kara?”

Lena’s heart kicked up so fast then that Kara feared that it might burst out of her chest at any moment. But before she could calm her, Alex and Eliza burst into the room followed by a dizzying amount of people and Lena blended herself back into the background as everyone fluttered and fussed around her.

As the barked out questions and sobbed over her… As they pulled out needles and turned off the machines that had been monitoring her… As they did everything she knew they needed to… Kara remained focused on Lena’s heartbeat, making sure it stayed close.

“Kara! What are you— You should stay in bed.”

“Help me up, Alex. Please?” Rather than fussing at her more, Alex looked at her face, staring so hard that Kara wondered if she hadn’t somehow gained the ability to see into her mind. Whatever she saw though, she nodded and helped her find her feet.

“Come on people, out, let’s give them a moment.” Alex gently took her mom’s hand, stilling the protests and questions she could see ready to burst out. She gestured with her chin and saw her mom’s mouth form into a soft Ohhh that matched the widening of her eyes as she saw where Kara’s eyes were focussed intently. Tightening her hold, Alex dragged her out of the room before the grin on her face turned into trying to U-Haul the couple together or planning their wedding.

Kara could feel her strength returning with every step that took her closer to Lena, the urge to protect and comfort winning out over the weakness left by the Kryptonite. Rao, she looked so small and curled in on herself. Her arms wrapped around her waist so tightly as though holding the shattered pieces of herself together.

“Lena.” Kara touched the tight line of Lena’s slender shoulders gently, feeling the quiver running through her as her head tilted, her cheek pressing against the back of her hand, nuzzling into her. Kara wasn’t sure what was more heartbreaking, the tears glistening on Lena’s dark lashes of the sob trembling past her lips as she turned, her fingers pressing questioningly over the now smooth and unblemished skin where Lockwood had stabbed her.

“I’m— Hmmmph.”

Kara’s assurances were lost under the sudden press of Lena’s mouth against her own and the feel of her hands moving and pressing against her back as though she wanted to merge them together. Kara pressed closer, all feelings or thoughts of weaknesses lost to the strength she felt in Lena’s arms. She kissed away the salty taste of tears from her lips, replacing it with the sweetness of soft, needy moans and the trembling utterings of love that left them both as they tumbled back towards the too narrow bed that now seemed just perfect for them both right then.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN - I have no medical experience (pr pretty much experience of any kind) so just work with me here on Lena being an utter genius... hell, if the writers on the show can get away with what they do, I think we're all allowed to stretch reality a little too ;)


	14. Chapter 14

Lena had never enjoyed flying. She hated heights in general but for the most part, she was in control of that. Flying was giving up control and entrusting someone else and Lena didn’t like to feel out of control. As she had once told the helicopter pilot right before they had been attacked by drone out to kill her, she knew that statistically, it was the safest form of transport. After the explosion on the shuttle, she had been booked on, the helicopter, and Morgan Edge trapping her on a plane he intended to crash… Suffice to say, Lena was positive that if she asked Brainy for facts and percentages it would show that statistics were skewed when it came to her and that flying was something she should never, ever do again.

And yet… If she had dared to look, she would have seen the lights of the city laid out far below her twinkling quite prettily in the night. Even if she had of dared though, looking was the last thing on her mind when she had the even more impressive sight of Kara’s jawline and the twinkle of blue eyes to focus upon.

When it came to flying, Kara made it safer.

Lena hadn’t been on-board the shuttle but Kara and Superman had saved it and everyone on-board.

The helicopter, Kara had halted it’s out of control spin after the drones hit it in a hail of bullets and lowered it back into place on top of L-Corp.

Goons had knocked her off her balcony… Kara had been there to catch her.

Morgan Edge’s attempt to crash his plane full of chemicals and poison the water supply… Kara had stubbornly refused to let her go when the plane had broken apart, the chemicals in one half while she was in the other. The determination in her eyes had made Lena find the strength of body and mind to climb and leap into her strong grasp so she could let that side go.

Her next flight, she had been foolishly let to believe was a poison-induced dream and hadn’t known until much later that Kara really had flown her across the city to get her to the DEO to save her life. Not only that, but she had done it while still dressed in normal clothing and risked her secret identity in her haste.

There was no rush right then though. No danger… other than the frantic pounding of her heart as it clattered against her ribs. But, that wasn’t due to the height as there was not one part of her that felt anything less than secure in the arms braced beneath her shoulders and behind her knees. The pounding of Lena’s heart was because of the woman holding her.

Wrapping her arms around Kara tighter, Lena pressed closer, laying her face against the solid wall of Kara’s chest. She felt the kick of Kara’s heart and the hitch in her breath as she dared to release her hold so she could trace the contours of the crest on the front of her suit. Lena’s teeth bit softly into her lip as Kara’s hands adjusted subtly on her body and her cape cracked out behind her as she put on a small burst of speed that soon had her penthouse apartment coming into view.

Even then, as Kara easily changed her hold so that as she brought them down to land softly upon the roof with their fronts were pressed intimately together, the thick fabric of her cape swirling to wrap around them both, Lena felt no fear or trepidation. Instead, she felt only anticipation blazing a trail through her body to set every nerve ending on fire in a way that had her hiding her face against the strong column of Kara’s neck and biting her lip again.

If it was possible, Lena would have loved to have lived in that moment of time forever. Just wrapped up in the warmth and strength of Kara’s body.

The thought of how close she had come to losing the chance of being right there rushed up, cutting the air off in her throat. She hid her tears and muffled the cry of anguish threatening to crawl out of her soul against Kara’s shoulder, letting her soft blonde hair brush them away.

Despite Lena’s attempts to conceal her feelings as she always tried to, Kara felt the shudder of her breath and tears against her skin. How could she not when with Lena she could hear her heart even when there were miles and thousands of heartbeats separating them, and when as she could right then, taste the salt of her quietly falling tears on the air?

Easing back only enough so she could see Lena’s face as she gently tilted it, Kara brushed away the tears falling from eyes that glistened like jewels with tender swipes of her thumbs and then kissed them away when that wasn’t enough to stem the flow. Kara followed the path of them down and captured the last upon Lena’s trembling lips.

Kara traced the fullness of their curves with her own and ignored, for the moment at least, the invite of their parting and the tremulous moan that fell from them. She knew how much she wanted Lena, how much she loved her. And it would be so easy to give in to their desire right there and then but Kara wanted to make sure that Lena truly wanted her too and that she wasn’t acting in the heat of the moment.

Kara wanted more.

When it came to Lena Luther, she wanted everything,

What she didn’t want, was for Lena to have any regrets.

“Kara—”

Kara stilled her words and the worry she could see in her eyes with another kiss, deeper, full of all her hope and longing. This time when she eased away it was to see Lena’s eyes blown wide with hunger, the green lost to black.

“I want you so much, Lena. And, I’m kind of scared—”

“You, Supergirl, scared?”

“When it comes to you, Lena… yes,” Kara smiled wryly, ducking her head shyly. “In all years since I came to Earth, there have been a handful of times when I thought I felt… desire for anyone. From the first moment I saw you…” reaching up, Kara brushed a loose strand of Lena’s hair back, becoming almost mesmerised by how soft it was and the way it shone as it spilt through her fingers. “When I saw you that was when I finally knew what it meant to want someone. I hid it behind the label of friendship, scared that if I acted I would scare you away and ruin everything we had… who I could be.”

“You don’t have to hide anymore,” Lena quietly assured her. “These past few days…” she shuddered at the memory. “I thought I was going to lose you… again.”

“You never lost me before, Lena. El mayarah.”

“El mayarah,” Lena smiled.

“Will you teach me more? Of your language!” she lightly slapped Kara’s shoulder as she smirked. “Okay, maybe other things too…” she quirked an eyebrow, loving how just that motion seemed to leave Kara flustered. “But if you don’t mind teaching me and hearing me butchering it with my accent, I really would love to learn it from you.”

“Rao, I would love that! And for the record, I love your accent and how everything sounds coming out of your mouth.” She was especially looking forward to hearing how she sounded screaming her name in pleasure… just the thought of it made her body thrum with the desire that pooled as a heavy, liquid ache low in her abdomen.

Biting her lip, Lena gently took Kara’s hand within hers, brushing her thumb across the back of it as she tugged her towards the exit off the roof. Kara’s lips caught hers again before the door shut behind them and then again and again as they made their way to the penthouse one stolen, hungry kiss at a time.

“Wait! Wait!”

“What’s wrong?”

“Are you sure, Lena? If- if you’re not we could wait?” And she would but, Rao, Kara felt like she would combust if Lena said they should wait.

Her heart stopped as Lena dropped her hands and stepped back.

But, instead of heartbreak or the prospect of standing under a cold shower all night to try and regain control, Kara was left staggering and panting as Lena reached behind her and she heard the teeth of the zipper on the back of her typically elegant dress rasping as it parted.

Her ears picked up every sound… every slither of the fabric as Lena’s dress parted and she let it fall from her shoulders and further until it hit the ground with a soft thud that had Kara’s body twitching. It revealed to her hungry eyes the lacy bra framing the creamy swell of her breasts, pushing them up invitingly and the high cut of the matching panties hugging the womanly curve of her hips.

“I’m sure.”

Kara whimpered as Lena walked towards her, the heels she was wearing adding an extra sway to her hips that had Kara mesmerised.

“What- what about Kate and Maggie?”

Lena blinked, dragging her eyes up from where her fingers were tracing over the firm muscle of Kara’s biceps and the thoughts she was having about what she wanted to do to the woman beneath and wondering why she felt just a little like she was about to defile something pure? “Kate…? Oh! Out! They’re out. They’ve been helping patrol the streets at night. If you let me find my phone I’ll text them and let them know they’re evicted.”

“Rao, I don’t think I could wait that long.” Bending slightly, Kara slid her hand back, her palm tingling against the warmth of Lena’s thigh. Lena’s startled gasp of pleasure as she lifted her easily fell against her ear, sending sparks shooting down Kara’s spine.

The sparks turned into flames and then an inferno as Lena’s blunt nails scratched at the fabric covering her shoulders and her legs sinched in around her waist. Every breath made her startlingly aware of the way they were pressed together and the annoyance of the fabric still coming between them.

“Lee—” her name whined out as a plea from Kara’s mouth. Words failing and her senses spinning as Lena gasped and threw back her head.

“First door on the right,” Lena panted out against Kara’s ear.

Lena wasn’t sure if Kara super speeded them there or if she flew but it seemed to take no time at all and yet far too long before Kara was lowering her down onto the bed with a careful reverence and a blaze in her eyes that said she’d only just managed to stop herself from throwing her down and ravaging her.

“You look so beautiful, Lena.” She ran the tips of her fingers along Lena’s sides, her eyes tracking their motion and the way they looked against the creamy paleness of Lena’s skin and the brightness of the red bra she was wearing as they skimmed over the edges of it. “How much do you love what you’re wearing?”

“Well, they’re not my— Kara!” Lena wanted to huff at the wanton destruction of yet more clothing but the look on Kara’s face and blazing from her eyes as she gently removed the scraps of her ruined bra was worth the destruction of a million more.

She marvelled at the gentleness of Kara’s touch as they finally cupped and stroked her flesh. Capable of bending steel and shaping marble with just a touch of her fingers, they caressed and worked her flesh perfectly, seeming to know just the right amount of pressure to apply to drive her steadily out of her mind with wanting more.

“Rao… is- is this okay?” Kara swept her thumbs around and across the pale, dusky-pink discs of her areolas, circling ever closer but not quite touching the tight peaks of her nipples no matter how much Lena whined in protest and delight as she derailed her attempt to voice her impatience by licking and nibbling a line across the fine lines of her jaw, throat and clavicles.

She was perfection.

All perfect angular lines softened by soft skin and curves that all begged to be touched and worshipped. Even though Kara hated the possessiveness of the word, she looked at Lena and it echoed around her head anyway… ‘Mine.’

“Kara!” Tangling her fingers in the thickness of Kara’s hair, Lena pulled back. With Kara’s strength she could have tied a rope around her, attached it to a safe and thrown it out of the window and it wouldn’t have phased her, but the gentle tug of her hands had Kara lifting her head… leaving behind a slight redness where she had been kissing and nipping across the upper curve of her breast.

The sight of it registered enough for Lena to make a mental note that she needed to pick out an outfit for the next day that would cover it and for it to make her shiver in delight at being marked in a way she would never allow anyone else to get away with.

“Clothes… too many,” she plucked at Kara’s suit, drawing her attention to the fact that she was knelt in the middle of her huge bed wearing all of it still… even her boots.

“Wait!” Lena scrambled upright, kicking off her heels with a huff. Kneeling before her, she unclasped the heavy cape from Kara’s strong shoulders and folded it carefully. Under the weight of Kara’s eyes, she worked slowly, not wanting to rush the moment as she helped her out of her suit, revealing what it, and especially the looser clothing she preferred when she was just Kara, hid.

“Sweet lord… Abs!!”

“Lena!”

“Well…” Lena waved her hands around. “You- you’re… Wow!” She had known that Kara was strong. As Supergirl that was hard to ignore with the tightness of her suit and everything she could do. It was also noticeable when she was just Kara too in the way she felt when they had indulged in long hugs that revealed a body that was much trimmer than it had the right to be given how much she ate. But there was knowing, and then there was being faced with the evidence of that with her laid, literally, bare. Her skin golden and glowing. Shoulders nicely broad and muscular without being too overpowering… the same with her arms, her legs… everything.

But especially her abs.

Lena had heard the expression of someone looking like a Greek god, but one look at Kara and Lena was sure the Greek gods and goddesses would have been bowing down to her.

And it was all hers to touch.

Fingers trembling, she did just that. Emboldened by the noises her touch wrought from Kara, she traced the lines of every muscle, wishing that she had the kind of skills and talent that would have enabled her to capture her likeness in one medium or another.

Instead, she learned the feel of her beneath her hands and mouth and whispered her praise against her flesh as her touch was met and matched by Kara’s skilful hands.

Somewhere along the way, between Kara laying her back against the mattress and their bodies coming together, Lena was vaguely aware of scraps of lacy red fabric falling off the side of the bed. But then Kara’s thigh slid between hers and her cry of delight was matched by one from Kara as they climbed from peak to peak together, the room filling with the scent and sound of their love.

Their cries of release eventually fading away as they succumbed to sleep.

********

Despite the impressive blackout curtains Lena had installed at her bedroom windows, Kara could feel the rising of the sun outside of them. Instead of rushing to bask in it how she would have usually, Kara kept her eyes closed and basked in the feel of Lena’s body sprawled across her chest.

She knew what had happened the night before was real. Not only was the evidence of that softly snoring against her neck, but she could feel it in the subtle ache in muscles unused to such wonderful activities.

Murmuring quietly in her sleep, Lena pressed herself closer.

In a completely innocently checking up on her and not at all in a stalker-ish way, Kara had seen Lena sleeping alone in bed before. The one thing she had noticed about her was that she slept neatly. Always lying as stiff as a board right at the edge of the bed as though afraid to relax and show any kind of individuality even when sleeping.

Having met Lillian it was all too easy to imagine that she was the reason behind that behaviour and some of the others Lena only allowed to slip when she was relaxed and with people she trusted.

Sleeping was the same.

Alone she stuck to the edge of the bed but Kara had found out before on movie nights that when she was relaxed, Lena became an epic, sleep-hugging koala that sprawled and wiggled to get close to the warmth of her body.

There was another grumbled murmur and Kara felt Lena rolling to climb off her.

And then there was a scream.

Eyes shooting open, Kara turned around to meet whoever dared to attack Lena.

And then she looked down.

And down some more.

Much further than she should have had to and found Lena looking up at where she was floating. Her expression one of complete shock that stumbled to a glower and then a full-bodied laugh,

“You- you fly in your sleep?”

“Technically I’m floating,” Kara huffed in exasperation at herself. “Are you okay?” Floating down, she gently ran her hands along Lena’s arms and debated if she should x-ray her just to be on the safe side even though Lena seemed to be in a good mood and had only fallen about four foot onto the mattress.

“I’m fine, darling.”

“Good. I’m sorry about that. Doesn’t happen too often… I don’t think. Alex used to tie me to the bed but that was just as likely to be to try and stop me beating her to the bathroom each morning.”

“Well, I was hoping to wait a little longer into our relationship before we tried bondage. Breathe, Kara,” she chuckled as Kara went still and wide-eyed while still floating just above her. “And come down here will you? I can’t give you a kiss good morning when you’re hovering like that.”

Kara allowed herself to float all the way down, settling her weight between Lena’s thighs as they spread for her. The throaty moan pulled from Lena had her hips thrusting needily.

“Actually, I was thinking we could have more than just a kiss?”

 


	15. Chapter 15

Wiggling her spine into the mattress beneath her, Kara smiled lazily as she reached across the width of the vast bed for Lena. Finding nothing but heavily wrinkled fabric she rolled over, burying her face into the sweet scent of Lena’s pillow. She could feel the sun against her skin and could vaguely remember Lena pressing a kiss to her shoulder before slipping from the bed at some point and opening the heavy curtain to let her bask and recharge in the rays of the yellow sun that fuelled her.

Even with the evidence of a full day and night of pleasure running as a delightful ache through muscles not used too being worked that way, and the memory of the litany of gasps, moans and screams that had fallen from them both… it all still felt like a dream to Kara.

No, it was better than anything she had ever managed to dream of or dared to imagine.

And ohhhh, Kara had imagined. With every glance and hug, with every soft lip bite and smile, she’d wondered and secretly hoped. But she had not been prepared for the reality of having Lena in her arms, not like _that_. Of being able to touch her _that_ way and be touched… intimately.

To feel so loved and cherished.

Slipping from the bed, Kara wrapped a sheet around her body and followed the sound of Lena’s voice into the living room. She stood out of sight for the moment and watched as Lena paced around. Her voice was all fierce CEO as she talked over the jabber of condescending voices and commanded attention, as was the stride that ate up swathes of the floor as she barked instructions at an unknown amount of people of the other end of a conference call.

While the voice and attitude were all Lena Luther, CEO of L-Corp, owner of CatCo Worldwide Media, genius and destroyer of condescending businessmen… her attire… that was anything but business… Kara would have noticed and probably flown clean through buildings if she’d seen Lena dressed like that in her office at L-Corp.

Stepping out of hiding, mesmerised by the sight before her, Kara bit her lip as she took in the sinful sight of Lena Luthor conducting business while wearing lacy, emerald green lingerie. Kara wasn’t sure if it was her movement that gave her away, the sound of her drool hitting the floor or her lust filled and excessively loud whimper, but Lena stopped pacing, her eyebrow and lips quirking skywards as she glanced her way.

Blushing furiously, Kara moved to hold up a hand in apology for interrupting her business but Lena crooked a finger commandingly her way and Kara froze on the spot.

“Everyone! I think that is enough for now!” Lena cut through the voices. “You all know what I expect of you to help this city recover and rebuild. And if for some reason you are unsure, then you can contact my Personal Assistant, Jess and she will put you right. Good day.”

“Lena,” Kara protested after Lena reached out and cut the conference call off. “You didn’t have—” she swallowed hard, trying to recover her senses before they flew right out of the window as Lena strode towards her with a suddenly extra sensual sway in her hips that had Kara very glad, and yet disappointed, that Lena wasn’t wearing her heels too else she would have been a puddle on the floor.

_I wonder what she would think if I asked her to put them on?_

“You didn’t have to do that. I know how busy you… are…” Kara’s voice trailed off as Lena came to a stop right before her, so close that she could almost taste her body wash and arousal on the air and all she could hear was the rising beat of Lena’s heart as she looked up at her, her green eyes darkening as her fingers brushed over her arms and skirted along the edges of the sheet that Kara almost forgot she was holding.

Her eyes dropped, following the motion of Lena’s finger as it traced over the creamy swell of Lena’s breasts cupped so perfectly by the green bra.

“You marked me again, Ms Danvers.”

Kara blushed slightly under Lena’s teasing gaze as she took in the clear evidence her teeth had left in Lena’s flesh but she felt no shame in the sight of it or the ones she knew she’s left elsewhere etched by bites and eager sucking upon her thighs and breasts… only an ache to leave more upon her and hear Lena’s breathy pleas and cries for every one of them.

Lena’s flesh shivered beneath the touch of her hand as Kara skimmed her palm up her side, her fingertips dancing along the edges where lace and flesh met. Even though they had touched all night, learning every curve and nuance of each other’s bodies, the softness of Lena’s skin, how responsive it was to every touch, was mesmerising.

The soft shiver. The breathy moan of longing. The way she held her breath and bit into her lip in anticipation. The way she arched into her touch.

Fingertips resting against the dimple at the top of her ass, Kara applied just the lightest amount of pressure, guiding Lena closer until their bodies were so close to touching with every deep breath.

Her eyes shone in the light streaming through the windows, the darkness of her blown pupils ringed by colour that shifted between green, grey and blue as they looked into her own eyes so intently… waiting… anticipating. A look of almost shyness coming over them as moment stretched and she tilted her head quizzically, her shining curls of her dark hair falling around her pale shoulders.

“Kara?”

“Yes?”

“If you don’t kiss me right this moment I’ll—” whatever threat she was going to add on was forgotten in an instant as Kara surged forward with a twinkle in her blue eyes that would have made Lena want to curse at her a little for keeping her waiting if her lips hadn’t been captivated by the heat and softness of Kara’s as they moved against her own.

The tip of her tongue swept and teased along the seam of Lena’s lips gently asking for entrance and Lena gave it willingly, parting her lips and melting into the sensation of Kara’s eager tongue sweeping into her mouth along with just a touch of ice breath to act as a contrast to the heat.

It was perfect and entirely unfair how Kara had managed to learn so much about her during the night while rendering her practically incapable of remembering even her own name under the pleasure she invoked.

Lena’s fingers grasped and raked through sun-warmed blonde hair and over shoulders and arms built of solid bone and steely muscles encased in impenetrable skin that was warm and silky soft, and enticingly responsive to her every touch.

The scientist in Lena wanted to study Kara and work out how a woman that could endure the kinds of blows and punches that would level a building with barely even a flinch could be so sensitive when it came to the softest of touches.

The woman that was being so easily lifted until she had no choice other than to wrap her legs around Kara’s waist and let out a positively filthy moan as her aching centre came into contact with Kara’s unfairly defined abs… that woman wanted to tease her lover with the softest of kisses and touches until she was a writhing mess beneath her.

Lena’s head fell back, crying out to the heavens as Kara’s lips left hers and enveloped her nipple in heat, warmth and gentle suction. Recovering only slightly at the sight of a small scrap of green on the floor, Lena tugged on Kara’s hair until eyes made dark and smoky with lust met hers even if her mouth refused to be swayed from its tormenting ministrations.

“Kara Danvers’,” Lena scolded breathlessly. “I might be rich but you _really_ need to learn how to remove clothes without destroying them.”

How she did it, Lena wasn’t sure but Kara managed to look both contrite and not at all sorry about the destruction of yet more clothing and all while smiling around a mouthful of nipple. Lena moaned throatily as Kara drew on the tender bud trapped within the heat of her mouth and cried out at Kara blew upon the swollen bud with an icy blast of breath that tightened it almost painfully before her hot tongue circled and flicked across it, sending her senses into overload with pleasure.

“Kara! Bed! Oh god! Please, Kara!”

Kara had other ideas though and no matter how much she begged, she refused to be swayed and even before Lena felt the press of the wall against her back in a chilled counterpoint to the almost feverish heat of her front where she was pressed against Kara, she didn’t care where they were as long as Kara’s long, strong fingers were finally where she needed them. Stretching her just right as they curled and thrust in relentless pursuit of her pleasure until she collapsed, twitching and boneless in her strong embrace.

Lena blinked sleepily as the world tilted slightly, her trembling fingers flexing against the soft but unyielding strength of Kara’s shoulders as her back met the cool sheets of the bed. A rich laugh of delight rumbled up musically from Kara as she linked her fingers together determinedly behind Kara’s neck and held on so she couldn’t draw away and leave her. As determined as Lena was, she knew that Kara could have broken her hold so very easily… which made it all the more special as she kept herself as close as possible and crawled onto the bed with her.

The fact that Kara was bigger than her anyway and was muscle on top of muscle, on top of bones that were far denser than those of a human, made her deceptively heavier than she looked. But Lena relished the weight of her pressing her into the mattress and refused to let go as she tried to move to lay at her side.

“No!” she whined in protest.

“I’m not going anywhere, Lee,” Kara quietly assured her, tucking a strand of dark hair back behind Lena’s ear. Trailing her fingers down, she could feel the pulse of blood racing through her veins and traced it with her lips, feeling the quickening of her pulse against them. She lifted her head, gazing down in almost drugged confusion to check that she hadn’t somehow hurt Lena as her delicate hand pushed insistently at her shoulder but the look in her beautiful eye was one of anything but pain.

Relenting at the determination in Lena’s eyes more than her strength, Kara allowed herself to be pushed onto her back. She ran her hands along the softness of Lena’s thighs as she straddled her with a thoroughly wicked and triumphant smirk on her face that Kara too great delight in derailing with a tightening of her hold that held Lena perfectly still for the upwards grind of her hips.

If it was a game of distraction she wanted, Kara found that Lena was more than up to the challenge as she leaned down and started kissing, licking and nibbling everywhere her lips touched. If her lips alone weren’t distraction enough, Kara’s senses were besieged by Lena’s hands and even her hair trailing lines of fire across her nerves as well as the softness of her breasts and the hard point of her nipples dragging across her skin as Lena worked her way slowly downwards until Kara was left gasping and moaning, her fingers clutching at whatever she could find to try and anchor herself; the bed, her own flesh and the dark strands of Lena’s hair.

Pressing a kiss to the insides of Kara’s still quivering thighs, Lena wiped her mouth and chin clear with her hand and started the long and far too arduous crawl up the bed to lay at Kara’s side. Chuckling, she threw an arm over Kara’s waist and pulled her back down before she could float up to the ceiling in bliss.

Humming softly, Kara managed to somehow get her body to cooperate enough to roll onto her side so that she was face to face with Lena, their heads sharing the same pillow. Looking at her right there she wondered what in the hell she had been thinking about trying to convince herself that she could remain _just friends_ with her?

“I’m such an idiot.”

“What? Why?” Lena tried to move away as confusion and age-old fears tried to take hold but Kara’s hold remained gentle and unwavering, anchoring them together.

“For not realising sooner just how much I love you. Just think of all the time we could have been doing _this_!”

“Instead of having brunches, lunches, extra lunches, dinners and suppers?”

“Well, we could have been doing them too,” Kara grinned as her stomach rumbled. “I’m always hungry and you always forget to eat when you get engrossed in work. Speaking of… do you have to work today?” She bit her lip nervous at the thought of having to let Lena out of her sight.

“I sent everyone home or to different facilities out of the city and effectively shut everything down at L-Corp until repairs are done.” Lena stroked a finger across Kara’s jaw as she started to frown. “None of that was your fault, Kara. You saved so many lives that day and almost gave your own.” Breaking off, she claimed a kiss with trembling lips to assure herself that the woman in her arms was okay. “I have never been so scared in my life than I was seeing you at the DEO after that.”

“I’m okay all thanks to you.”

“Well, I couldn’t let anything happen to you that would ruin my nefarious plans for Supergirl.”

“Is that right, Ms Luthor?”

“Mhmm.”

Kara grinned, pinning Lena beneath her and lost herself in the loving twinkle in her eyes. “I’d best subdue you some more then… after we eat though!”

Lena found herself blinking up at the ceiling as Kara zipped away, her voice drifting back from the kitchen.

“I hope you’ve got something better than kale in this fridge! I’m starving!”

“Hold on and I’ll make you some pan—” Lena made it to the edge of the mattress and suddenly found Kara’s mouth pressed against her own again. “… cakes…” she breathed out as Kara vanished again. “Wonder how much it would cost to install red sun-lamps in every room?”

“What was that?”

“Nothing, darling!” Lena called out on her way to see if there was anything hidden at the back of the closet that she wouldn’t mind losing if Kara got impatient with her clothing again.

**********

Once dressed, Lena quickly swatted Kara away from the stove before she could burn anything.

“I’m not that bad anymore,” Kara whined in half-hearted protest as Lena made her sit down and wait.

“I’ve seen the results of your stress baking too often—”

“I still don’t see why they don’t just cook quicker if I turn the heat all the way up—”

“Things don’t always work that way. Some things take patience, precise measurements and skill.” She deftly flipped one last pancake onto the stack she was steadily building and placed them with a flourish before Kara before she drooled on the counter.

“Oh, Rao! They smell so good!”

“Yes, they do! Got any to spare, Luthor!?”

“That, you will have to ask Kara, Alex,” Lena smirked as Kara sliced off the thinnest slither of pancake that she could and held it up to her sister as she, Maggie and Kate made their way into the penthouse like they owned the place.

“Gee, thanks, sis.” Alex rolled her eyes but knowing there wasn’t going to be a much better offer from Kara, she stole the bit of pancake and ignored Kara’s distressed whine about that while planting a lingering kiss on her temple.

“How’s it looking out there?”

“Chaos,” Maggie grumbled as she rolled her shoulders until her joints popped and released. “It’s so good to see you back on your feet, Kara.” Even with J’onn working the skies as Supergirl there had been a lingering pall amongst the people watching that Maggie felt sure would somehow only lift once the real deal was up in the air again.

“It’s good to be back on them.”

“Though going by that hella impressive hickey there, Lee, I get the feeling there hasn’t been too much standing going on?” Kate smirked knowingly.

“You would be surprised. Kara _is_ very strong,” Lena smirked around the edges of her cup as Kara choked on the bite of pancake she’d just put in her mouth and her tough as nails, secret agent sister looked like she wanted to throw herself out of the window at the implication.

“As-” Kara cleared her throat frantically, “as there been any sighting of Lockwood?”

“Kara, he injected you with Kryptonite, I wouldn’t tell you if we had… but, no, he’s gone back into hiding again,” Alex gritted out in frustration. And it was a shame as she had been so looking forward to burying her fist in his face before Kara tried to take him on.

“His minions are out there spreading the good word,” Kate huffed. “And it’s sickening how some of the press are lapping up the lies too.”

“Lies?”

“Kara… they’re painting it to look like you, the DEO, and Lena is working in cahoots and were attacking humans trying to offer help… That it was all the fault of aliens.”

“But, that makes no sense,” Kara frowned.

“Right now, out there, common sense is the last thing on anyone’s minds. People are scared and they’re looking for easy targets. They’ve got politicians all riled up trying to force the President to pull back on all the alien right and demanding an alien registration be set up.”

“Jess and Eve have been handling the recall of the alien detection devices from all the hospitals as quickly as they can before someone thinks to get them.”

“Oh, Lena,” Kara reached out for her hand but Lena had already started to wrap herself up in her typical defensive stance with her arms tight around her waist. Not letting her get away with it, Kara gently pulled her into her arms.

“I refuse to let something else I’ve built be used to cause harm.”

“We’ll make sure they’re not,” Kara whispered softly against her.

“You can’t make that kind of a promise, Kara.”

“Tough, just did,” Kara stated defiantly.

Lena couldn’t help but think that Kara was being a little too overoptimistic but at the same time, she felt the power of it lifting her as always as it was just so very much a part of her nature.

Hope.

It was one of the first things she had noticed about her when she had met Kara for the first time… both first times… A thought that made her purse her lips a little still for not realising that both sunny blonde women to burst into her life at the same time and become her heroes were one and the same. Maybe she needed to speak to a doctor to see if she had some form of Prosopagnosia based on a desire to have more than one friend in her life?

“…Lena? Lee?”

Lena shook her head, dragging herself out of her thoughts as she realised she’d worried Kara with her silence. “Sorry, darling. Just stuck in silly thoughts for a moment.” Ignoring the faint noises of distress from Alex, Lena gently cupped the warmth of Kara’s face with her hand and raised up onto tiptoes to press a kiss to the corner of her mouth, feeling it lift into a smile and start to chase after hers as she eased back.

“Okay, so how do we draw Lockwood out of hiding if he hasn’t shown already?”

“I could—”

“No! Whatever you were about to say then, Kara… No!”

“But—”

“Kara… I know you want to be out there but he’s got Kryptonite… We nearly lost you—”

“I can’t, not go out there, Alex. The city needs me. Anyway, Lena has got an antidote—”

“Kara,” Lena gently grasped Kara’s wrist as she planted her hands on her hips in typical Supergirl pose. “You were out for nearly a week and we nearly lost you so often. I know you have to go out there again,” she quickly stilled the protest that had Kara’s brow crinkling. “I’m not going to say that you can’t because I know that being a hero is just who you are. But… my love, J’onn was out there, in secret from everyone at the DEO, posing as you and it hasn’t drawn Lockwood out. You can’t go out there challenging him with how public opinion is.”

“What in the—” Alex looked around the room as everyone’s phones started ringing and buzzing at the same time.

“Director Danvers—”

Alex pressed a finger to her ear, cutting out the sounds of the phones as best as she could so she could focus on what was coming through over the earpiece. Even through that, it wasn’t lost on her that she could hear the warble and cry of ringtones going off at the DEO. “What’s going on, Brainy?”

“It appears that someone has hacked the service the President has at their disposal for messaging the nation in times of crisis.”

“Everyone is getting this?” Alex stepped closer to Kara and Lena to see what the message was. “It’s a video?”

“That is also on every social media site and TV station playing on a loop.”

Spotting the remote, Alex turned on the huge flat screen TV and started flicking through the channels. Sure enough, every one of them was playing the same thing.

Kara stared at the screen in disbelief and growing anguish as footage of Clark and Lex as friends and of her and Lena changed to ones of the explosions and fight in National City and the fight between Superman and Lex Luthor that had claimed so many lives in Metropolis. It was professionally put together to make it look like they had worked together.

And over the footage was a voice over from Agent Liberty, his voice dripping with pain as he spoke about how he had lost his home and wife and even though he had two young children to bring up alone, he couldn’t stand idly by and watch as the Super’s and Luthor’s worked their evil to take over the country and planet for the aliens.

“Brainy! Can you stop this garbage from going out!?”

“I’m working on pulling it now but… It is already out there Director and…”

“There are enough TV stations and hate groups that will keep sharing it,” Alex finished with a sigh. “Do what you can though. This is going to give too many of the wrong kind of people all the excuse they need. And see if you can find out where this originated from”

“On it right now.”

“Alex—”

“Kar, do you think you’ll be up to giving one of your rousing speeches later? We need people to rally together instead of fighting each other. If we coordinate with CatCo they should have footage we can use showing the truth.”

“I’ve got a small, dubious program that Brainy can attach to the footage.”

“Dubious?”

“It was designed to track anywhere a file was downloaded to without leaving a trace. The original was designed by Winn to hack into L-Corp and took months for the IT department to strip out.”

“Alex!”

“What? I—”

Lena held up a hand to quiet Alex’s blustering… as fun as it was to watch. “The point is, that I perfected it, and with the addition of a few lines of code it will be able to help us locate Lockwood.”


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN - I am not the best at dialogue let alone hopeful and heroic speeches, therefore, much of Kara's speech is taken from the one from 4x02 with a few tweaks and additions to fit the situation.

Since she had saved the plane with her sister on, donned her cape, and came out as Supergirl, Kara had had to get used too many things.

Having spent the first years of her new life on Earth trying to avoid drawing attention to herself and what she was capable of under the power of the yellow sun, one of the most glaring things to get used to was the almost constant prying eyes of the cameras that followed her every move. If she thought about how many were trained on her every second of the day no matter what she was doing, Kara felt sure she might go mad.

There were reporters and professionals trying to get interviews and snap her in action. There were CCTV cameras all over the city waiting to track her movements and every un-Super thing she did.

And then there were the hundreds and thousands of cameras concealed within the hand of every member of the public under the guise of a smartphone or tablet, all trained her way and generally getting said member of the public into danger when they became too engrossed on what was playing out on the small screen in their hand instead of looking out for what she was fighting… cars heading their way… and just generally where they were walking.

The only time Kara had seen it worse was when ‘Pokémon Go’ had first come out and she’d had to rescue several people old enough to know better when a glitch had resulted in then taking a lemming-like leap off a bridge while hunting down a Pikachu.

Of all the cameras Kara had faced… the one she could never get used to was the one right in front of her then. Bulky and impersonal, the lens staring back at her coldly like a silently judging, unblinking eye.

Rather than make use of any of the local news studios, L-Corp or even the DEO so they wouldn’t be accused of favouritism, they had decided to make use of a quiet, innocuous corner of CatCo and had dragged one of the studio cameras from storage where it had lain, gathering dust after Cat Grant’s failed foray into the world of on-air reporting.

Cat had ranted for days about how all the news anchors were a ‘bunch of overpaid divas whose makeup budget could bankrupt most small countries’, and she didn’t ‘have the time or patience to hold their hands when all I want to do is knock their heads together!’ and then she had shelved the idea and mothballed the equipment after one last parting shot of… ‘Get them out of my sight, Kiera!’

Trying to take her mind off the unblinking eye of the camera, Kara glanced around the room at everyone gathered… waiting. Alex was there, wearing that confused frown across her brow that Brainy seemed to be able to bring out even quicker than Winn ever had. Focussing in on Alex, she could just make out the sound of him in Alex’s ear and knew she was right but she didn’t listen in to find out what was being said… that would have been invasive and anyway, there was a far more interesting sound to be focussing on.

Lena’s heart.

Kara heard the steadying thump of it before she heard the sharp staccato click of her heels on the ground and saw Lena enter the room looking as immaculate and commanding as ever. Only Kara knew how not quite immaculate she looked beneath the sleek and very expensive skirt and blouse she was wearing… cut and fastened up just high enough to cover the litany of bruises Kara had left behind.

Just thinking about them had Kara ducking her head and fidgeting as she hid her blush. A glance up had her wondering if Lena hadn’t developed powers of her own as her perfectly shaped eyebrow arched upwards in a way that said loud and clear ‘I know what you’re thinking about.’

It made Kara fidget all the more, her feet shuffling until the person operating the camera poked their head around from behind it to clear their throat to warn her to stay on her mark.

Smiling apologetically, Kara was about to offer up a sorry before they ducked back behind the camera until she saw who was following Lena.

James!

Usually she wouldn’t mind seeing her friend but the look on his face, so hostile and arrogant when he had seen Lena had soured her mood towards him even before he had opened his mouth and all but demanded, once again, that Lena should step down from her position at CatCo and leave him in charge for the sake of appearances.

Kara could read it on his face though, and she was sure Lena could too, the opinion he had always held that she was just another Luthor and would prove herself to be as bad and Lillian and Lex. That look had made Kara want to grab him by his overstuffed shirt and hurl him right at the moon but, showing more poise and diplomacy than she could muster, Lena had pointed out that she was the boss and if he didn’t like that he could feel free to leave any time but if he held even an ounce of journalistic integrity left he would want to expose the truth about what had happened.

Just looking at him as he had tried and failed to intimidate Lena by crowding into her personal space so that he towered over her, had Kara wondering what she had ever seen in him that had made her think that she liked him romantically? It also made her wonder why he even stayed in the news business when he was so obviously unwilling to see past his own prejudices to seek out the truth of a story he was reporting on or of people.

Kara knew she made mistakes, more than she would like. Lena did too. But both of them were willing to listen to other opinions and weigh them against their own beliefs and change where needed. Getting James to admit to the possibility that he could be wrong would be like trying to hold back a speeding train while her powers were blown.

Trying to focus on something other than her ‘friend’, though Kara was not sure how much longer she could keep thinking of James like that, she made the mistake of returning her attention to the waiting camera and the Teleprompters standing either side of it. A logical part of her knew that they were a good thing to have and that it was even her own words as she had written the speech herself. But, it felt disingenuous somehow to parrot her words back instead of speaking from her heart.

Especially with something so important.

Just in the day and a half that had passed since Lockwood had released his video over the city the attacks on aliens and businesses owned by them had increased. As had attacks on L-Corp and buildings carrying its name. Even the hospitals and people out offering aid and helping to get the city up and running again had come under attack from the Children of Liberty and people acting under their name.

“Supergirl?”

Kara nearly jumped clean out through the roof despite the softness of Lena’s voice as she suddenly appeared right before her as though conjured from out of thin air. “Lee—!”

“Could you give us a moment?” Taking her eyes off Kara for a moment, Lena fixed the camera operator with a look that brooked no argument. Once the area around them was clear enough for them to speak a little more freely, she turned her attention fully back on Kara who still had a look around her eyes of someone moments away from bolting.

“Take a breath,” she whispered softly. “In and out. In and out. With me.”

The breath that Kara hadn’t even been aware of holding left her in a huff that ruffled Lena’s immaculately styled hair as she felt and watched as Lena’s hand stroked back and forth along her forearm until coming to rest where their forearms pressed together, their hands touching each other’s elbows. Even through the thickness of her suit, Kara could feel the back and forth sweep of Lena’s thumb across the more sensitive skin at the crook of her elbow.

“Are you okay? You looked like you were about to vibrate a hole clean through the floor with how you were tapping your feet.”

“Just a little nervous I guess,” Kara shrugged, offering up a self-deprecating half-smile that earned her another perfectly raised eyebrow that while finely crafted for cutting down unruly board members, Kara found affected her in a much different way.

Right then though it worked better than Wonder Woman’s lasso of truth. “I’m not really fond of public speaking,” she admitted quietly.

“Really?” Lena looked at her, feeling just a little shocked at the admission. “But, you do it so well, darling. Always so eloquent and passionate.”

The conviction in Lena’s voice and the love and surety in her eyes had Kara blushing shyly.

“I don’t want to put everything on you… it shouldn’t all be on your shoulders no matter how magnificent they are,” she cleared her throat slightly, reining herself in as her thoughts started to drift as Kara’s shoulders flexed with each breath. “You are hope for so many people out there right now; aliens and humans. Everyone is scared and Lockwood and his group are preying on all the fear they have created. The rest are waiting to hear from you. They want to hope. They want to believe. You’re the reason I brought L-Corp to National City instead of trying to right things in Metropolis or trying to start in a fresh city. I wanted to be around you,” she blushed.

“You- you did?”

“Yes,” she smiled. “One of the last people that would have wanted a Luthor around and yet… because of an interview that you did with Cat, I had hope that we could at least exist in the same place, that you would give me the chance. And the belief that if I stepped too far over any line that you would be there to pull me back.”

“You have always been better than you give yourself credit for.”

“Well, according to you the last couple of nights, I’m the best,” Lena winked.

“Lena,” Kara whined softly, a blush rising across her cheeks as her fingers fiddled for glasses that weren’t there.

“I was going to suggest a slight twist on an old method for dealing with nerves while speaking and suggest that you imagine me naked before you—”

“Rao! That would not help, Lena!” Kara hissed urgently.

“No, you’re probably right,” Lena hummed. “Anyway, I would hate to have to buy a replacement camera or therapy for the poor person operating it because Supergirl took a bite out of it.”

“Lee!” Groaning, Kara buried her face in her hands and tried to deny the way her body felt like it was about to go up in flames at Lena’s musical laughter at her expense.

“One minute until air, Supergirl!”

Lena gently tugged on Kara’s hands until she could see the brilliance of her blue eyes again. “You will be amazing as always, Supergirl. Ignore the prompters if you want and just speak how you always do, from your heart. That will never lead you astray,” Lena emphasised her words by placing a hand over the steady beat of Kara’s heart. She could feel the strength flowing through Kara with every breath she took, her resolve strengthening, as she traced the outline of the crest across her chest.

An ache grew within Lena to reach up and cup the beauty of Kara’s face between her hands and tug her closer for a kiss but… there were too many people around. And while there was no shame within her for their relationship it was wise to tread carefully when there were people around that didn’t know that Kara Danvers and Supergirl were one and the same for if she was seen being more ‘friendly’ than usual with one of Kara’s personas, that meant she couldn’t with the other as that could draw too much attention.

Flattening her hand, she gently pressed back as Kara started to move closer, her eyes flickering back and forth between hers and her lips.

“Later, too many eyes watching you,” she whispered quietly enough only for her ears. She let the tips of her fingers trail down, skimming them along Kara’s side where the fall of her cape hid her actions from view and let her eyes speak of all her need. “Go get them, Supergirl.”

“Thirty seconds!”

Kara watched as Lena moved back to stand with Alex, her elegant fingers flying over a data pad she snatched out of Alex’s hands no doubt to check for the fiftieth time that everything was in place to track Lockwood down. She smiled as Alex gave her a quick thumbs up and a not at all subtle eye roll in Lena’s direction.

“Video rolling in ten… nine… eight…”

Kara watched the monitors as the video package Brainy had put together… after shooting down James’ offer to help… started rolling. It was the truth. And as such, it was hard to watch as clips from the attacks on the city started playing out. Shaky footage from phones and CCTV showing the explosions ripping apart buildings and lives… people fleeing in panic, aliens and humans helping each other… and right there in the middle of it all… Lena and her driver fighting side by side against armed men with assault rifles, putting themselves in harm’s way to give people a chance to get to safety.

Brainy had managed to find the Syvillian that Lena had saved and as that part played out of the screen the Syvillian spoke over it, telling how the brave woman had saved her and many others without being asked and without a thought for herself.

Kara glanced across the room, her eyes drawn by the utter stillness in Lena as she watched the screen. She knew that Lena hadn’t wanted any focus of the video to be about her as she felt that Lockwood would twist the narrative to say she was trying to make herself out to be the hero but Brainy and Alex had brushed aside her fears and said they were just telling the truth about what had happened and part of that truth was that Lena Luthor had gotten out of her car to help and Kara had agreed wholeheartedly because she wished that people would look beyond the deeds of her family and see how amazing and giving Lena was.

“Thirty seconds left on the video… are you ready, Supergirl?”

Kara nodded with more determination than she was truly feeling as she looked at her feet, shuffling them so she was standing on the mark taped to the floor.

“Kara.”

Kara looked up at the softest of whispers dipped in a sprinkling of Irish brogue and into the crystal green of Lena’s eyes fixed upon her.

“Breathe.”

Kara followed the gestures of Lena’s hands and the deep breaths she was taking to guide and focus her. Brightly painted lips curved up in a warm smile that made her eyes twinkle.

“You’ve got this,” Lena whispered under her breath. The smile she got for her assurances threatened to rival the sun itself as it lit the room and had a ball of warmth exploding through Lena’s soul.

“You okay there, Luthor?” Alex smirked knowingly at the dazed look on Lena’s face that turned into a blush that rose up from the neck of her silk blouse. She gently bumped her shoulder against Lena’s, letting her know without words that the teasing was all in good fun and she approved.

And she did.

There was no denying that she had been wary of Lena Luthor when she had first arrived in National City purely because of her name. But Lena had proved herself time and again to them even when they had doubted her the most, even when Lena had had every reason to be mad at them. And while Alex was of the firm belief that no one would truly be good for Kara, that was her duty and role as big sister talking.

“Fellow citizens of America…”

As Kara started talking, her voice ringing out powerfully and passionately, Lena kept her eyes on the tablet in her hand. Even though she knew that Brainy would be looking at the same readings back at the DEO she wanted to see them for herself... even though it was difficult to focus when Kara was right there, putting her heart and hope on the line with every word.

“… these are complicated times. Some of you are confused, many of you are scared by what has happened in National City and the lies that have been spread by the Children of Liberty. The video you just saw was raw, un-doctored footage taken that day so you can see just some of what happened. The risks people took, humans and aliens from all walks of life, to help and keep each other safe in the face of terrorists out to hurt and kill.”

“Fear is spreading in the city and in the country like wildfire because of the lies telling you that you should fear aliens… that you should fear me. But I’ve lived here long enough to know that it doesn’t matter where we were born because we are all the same. The character of a person or alien is not defined by where we are from, but by what we do.”

“The Children of Liberty, the terrorists, want to divide us. They want us to turn on one another, live in fear, and grow in hate. But I know that we are better than that. I know that we can work together with love and respect, treat our neighbours with kindness. I’m an alien and I love this planet and city that I am proud to call home. I urge you to all look within your hearts and look to what makes you the same as your neighbours… the person standing next to you in the store… or in the bar after a long day at work… we are all the same. I want what we all want, to see our great city and the people that call it home healed and flourishing once more.”

Lena couldn’t help but smile as Kara finished off her impassioned speech and started fidgeting with the edge of her cape as soon as the camera was off her like she was aching for pockets to tuck nervous hands in to keep them occupied.

“Supergirl! Director Danvers!”

“Brainy?” Kara blinked in shock as her friend's voice called out loudly from the pad in Lena’s hand and then from the bank of TV screens in the room as his face suddenly appeared across all of them.

“Agent Dox—”

“My apologies Director but there is something most urgent happening that you need to be aware of!”

“What is it, Brainy?” Kara held up a hand to her sister, quietly asking for calm before she could blow up at Brainy for breaking protocol.

“Approximately thirty-five seconds ago I intercepted a message from the international space station about an explosion on board.”

Swiping Brainy’s face off the tablet screen, Lena worked quickly, her fingers flying through screen after screen, tapping away at links and protocols, bypassing firewalls and protection as she made her way through the tiniest crack and backdoor.

“Oh my god! You’re seriously hacking NASA right now?” Alex hissed as she glanced over Lena’s shoulder to see what she was so engrossed in.

“No. Of course not, Alex. I’m hacking the space station directly,” Lena answered as though it was the most logical thing in the world to be doing. And really, it was. Hacking NASA was time-consuming and would only get her information that she could get quicker direction from the station which, had woefully inadequate protection against hacks.

The astronauts liked their Twitter, Instagram, and Candy Crush too much.

“Okay, I’m in.” with a deft flick of her wrist, Lena sent life feed from the space station to the big screens. The footage was grainy but they could see some kind of gas and debris spewing out into the vacuum of space as the Earth spun wildly below. “Oh…”

“What’s wrong, Lena?” Kara looked back over her shoulder at the worried tone of Lena’s voice. The concern on her face was chilling. “Lena?”

“That gas… Its oxygen,” Lena sighed. “From what I can tell from the readings there was an explosion and they’re losing all their oxygen.”

“How long have they got?” Alex asked quietly.

“They have oxygen for no more than twelve hours but… it won’t matter.”

“What do you mean!? Of course, it matters!” Clenching her fists, Alex fought the urge to shake the woman for her almost emotionless voice.

“They matter, Alex. I’m not saying they don’t. But… with what I’m reading here the space station will burn up in the atmosphere before the oxygen can run out,” Lena informed them sadly.

“A rescue shuttle—”

“None available and it’s spinning too fast for them to dock even if there was one on the way up right now.”

“I’ll go.”

“What?!”

“Supergirl!”

“I’ll go!”

Lena strode forward until she was so close their bodies were a deep breath away from touching. She tapped the edge of the pad against Kara’s chest. “Forgive me if I’m wrong but, the last I heard, you can’t breathe in space?”

“I can last long enough—”

“Not for that you can’t!” Lena punched a finger towards the screens. “I’m sorry,” she whispered, closing her eyes as she wrapped her fist up in the fabric of Kara’s cape. “I’m not saying this just to save you but there is nothing that even you can do that will save even one of their lives if you try.”

“But I have to try, Lena,” she gently ran her hands up and down Lena’s shoulders. “You know that I have to try. It’s who I am.”

Lena hated it but she knew that Kara was right and also that trying to hold her back would only mean she lost her faster. But… “Then let me help!”

“Lee—”

“I’ve been working on something that might help. It’s not designed for _that,_ ” she gestured towards the screen and the disaster unfolding upon them. “But with Eve’s help, it could make all the difference.”

“Tell me what you need?”

“Everything is ready at L-Corp, we’ll just need a couple of hours. Trust me, please?”

“I always trust you, Lena.”

“We’ll head back to the DEO and get ready. Blake! Jensen! Escort Ms Luthor and Ms Teschmacher to L-Corp and make sure they stay safe!”

“Yes, Director!”

“I should take them—” Kara protested.

“You need to let Lena do her thing while you focus on learning what you need to know to fix that mess. Not saying it’ll be rocket science but… well…”

“I’ll go with them too, Supergirl,” James offered, his chest puffing out with self-importance at the thought of being able to do something. “The Children of Liberty are only targeting aliens, Guardian they’ve got no problem with.”

Lena was pretty sure that being someone that terrorists had no problem with wasn’t something to be proud of but she held her tongue. Right then she needed to get back to L-Corp so she could help Kara and the people on the space station.

“It’s okay,” Lena ran her hand up Kara’s chest to the strong column of her throat. Curling her fingers behind Kara’s neck, she raised up on her toes and pressed a soft but lingering kiss to the corner of her mouth.

“Go. I’ll be right behind you with everything you need.”

Shifting her head, mindful of any eyes watching them, Kara grazed their lips together more fully. “Stay safe,” she begged.


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't know if this should have a trigger warning or not but please be aware that there is peril in this chapter and mention of some violence.
> 
> Also... no, I do not like James and you might just be able to tell that from this chapter ;) I regret nothing.
> 
> The end bit... yes, I was inspired by an amazing piece of fan art. I'm afraid I haven't got the link to it on me but it's one that Jesse Rath shared on his IG a day or so ago.

As the road passed beneath the tyres of the blacked out, DEO issued SUV, Lena felt her nervousness increasing. Distracted as she was by thoughts that had her mentally breaking down plans, adding last-minute improvements and troubleshooting for potential issues, it took her a moment to realise that it wasn’t the urgency of the situation or fear for Kara that had her so on edge… it was the people she was with.

Not Eve.

Even though the other woman was damn near vibrating out of the seat with her usual restless energy, being around the quick brilliance of Eve’s mind was something she found soothing… in a 3am, triple shot of espresso kind of way.

The woman was brilliant but she had somehow gotten lost and ended up as an assistant… not that was anything wrong with that, Jess was utterly brilliant too but Eve’s brilliance was wasted because her mind was too quick to keep up with regular conversations and that had led far too many people, usually men, to put her in the category of being a dumb blonde.

Lena’s issue, she realised as she looked around the vehicle, was the three men. James, well, James Olsen was being James Olsen. And in that instance, it meant taking up more room than was absolutely necessary by doing that ridiculous man-spreading thing where he tried to claim all the room in the back seat by spreading his legs and puffing out his chest. If Lena had been alone with him she would have taken great delight in drawing her knees up under her and jabbing him with her heels, maybe then it would have stilled his mouth and given them some peace from his seemingly endless tales about teaming up with Supergirl.

Which seemed odd as Lena couldn’t remember hardly any of them and none where a camera hadn’t caught Supergirl looking frustrated at having to save his tinplated ass. Not that Lena had spent all that much time pouring over footage of Supergirl watching how she flew and how she fought. And if she did it was for purely scientific reasons and not to see her biceps flex.

“Are you okay Ms Luthor, you’re looking a little flushed?”

“I- I’m fine, thank you, Eve,” clearing her throat, ignoring the knowing twinkle in Eve’s eyes, Lena went back to her study. In particular, the way her name had caused Blake and Jensen to stiffen in their seats to the point that the SUV twitched upon the road under Blake’s control as though her very name made him nervous.

James didn’t notice, he was still too busy talking his worth as Guardian up, but Eve shot her a look that was all startled wide eyes as though she had just sensed a predator in the vehicle with them.

Lena tried to reach for her phone to shoot a message to Kara but Jensen’s eyes were spending almost as much time on the rear-view mirror as they were on the road and Blake had turned, his weapon on view while he pretended to pay closer attention to what James was saying as the SUV swung down into the darkness of the underground parking. There was no way he wouldn’t get suspicious about a text and calling would just have him hearing Kara’s usual excited and exuberant greeting.

“Where’s Jess?” Eve hissed out of the corner of her mouth.

Lena’s eyes shot around to where Jess would usually be standing, waiting, ready for her even when she had told her there was no need to. But, as Eve had already realised, their friend wasn’t there.

Out of the corner of her eye, Lena caught the way Blake’s fingers twitched closer to his gun ready to draw in an instant and take things further. “I’m sure she’s just busy upstairs.”

“Lena’s a busy woman, Eve, stands to reason that Jess would be too.”

Lena wanted to slap the condescending tone right out of James' mouth. And god, it was tempting just to see if it would work to correct his eyesight so that he would actually see that his ‘buddies’ were seconds away from shooting them too.

“I wouldn’t be able to do half of what I do in a day if not for Jess and Eve’s help. I’m sure before I poached her right from under your nose, Eve helped you not to make such an ass of yourself, Mr Olsen.”

“What?” James blinked slowly, suddenly feeling like he had just somehow been insulted.

“Over the scheduling of your meetings, James. It is hard, even for someone accustomed to the demands of owning and running two businesses as I am, to keep track of everything… Someone with no experience… even that can prove difficult to a CFO without the right person to steer them in the right direction.”

Eve giggled as James’ heavy brow furrowed at the almost surgical precision of Lena’s putdown. She knew that James liked to lord it over CatCo as though he owned the place and with just a couple of sentences Lena had made it clear that he wasn’t and that he wasn’t good at what he did… and he had no idea.

“I’m glad we’re on the same side,” she whispered as she slipped out of the SUV before Lena.

“I always strive to elevate the worthy, Ms Teschmacher.” Lena leaned in close under the guise of straightening her jacket. “Get ready to run if I tell you to,” she whispered quietly, her voice muffled further beneath the echoing thuds of the SUV doors slamming shut as the men got out.

“What are you doing?!” Jensen reached for the phone in Luthor’s hand, trying to grab it but she stepped back as her assistant inadvertently got in his way.

“I just need to call my assistant to make sure she knows to bring what I need to Lab D.”

“Lab D? What is it you’ve got down there anyway?” Blake barked out.

“Experimental weapons,” as she talked, Lena edged backwards slowly in the direction of the secret elevator. She would have preferred to go down to her secret, secret labs but that would leave them trapped whereas going up was quicker and would open up the rest of the building for them. “There are some kryptonite based ones there capable of taking Supergirl out.” That got their attention. But instead of looking offended for the woman they worked alongside, they looked far too eager.

“I knew it all along! You’re just as bad as Lex!” James crowed.

“So how do we get to Lab D?”

“I’m not going anywhere without Jess.”

“We’ll have her brought to us!”

Which meant that they weren’t in the building alone!

“But she won’t know what to bring me,” Lena protested with a fake petulant whine. She almost stomped a foot but decided that might be too far for even them to believe. And maybe the whine had pushed it as it was as Blake snatched her phone out of her hand.

“How long had you gentlemen been working for the DEO?”

“Just a couple of months. Why?”

“Just wondering if you joined the Children of Liberty before or after passing Director Danvers’ vetting process. Eve… Run!”

“What?” James looked at the two men blankly, only thinking to spring into actual action as they drew their weapons and started to take aim at Lena and Eve’s backs as they ran towards the door to a storage closet.

Lena swore she felt the heat from the bullet as it flew past her ear but she kept moving and, figuring that they would want her alive and unfortunately wouldn’t care about Eve, she kept herself between them and Eve. The elevator was fast but it was obviously all the way at the top and seconds felt like hours with bullets flying around. She looked over her shoulder, her ears straining for the sound of the arrival of the elevator as she counted off the seconds.

James was, surprisingly, holding his own pretty well… she winced as the butt end of a gun cracked across his jaw… okay, maybe holding his own was being optimistic but at least he was keeping them occupied… or entertained anyway as without the garbage can Guardian helmet on his head or his shield, Blake and Jensen were knocking him around between them and only his stubborn streak… or the force of their blows that was stopping him from falling, stopped them from giving chase.

That came to an abrupt end though as Blake saw the elevator door opening and instead of wasting his time on any more punches, he turned his weapon on James and shot him in the leg.

“Get in!” Lena forced Eve through the still opening doors and followed, slamming her fist on the controls as bullets flew through the gap into the elevator wall until they were cut off by the doors closing again. She wanted to collapse into a corner but she was a Luthor and made of stronger stuff. The collapsing could wait until everything had calmed down and she could get her hands of her favourite vintage of red wine.

Punching in a code, she made it so that no one could override it and call it back down, once that was done she turned on the screen that showed a view of her office to see if it was safe.

“Oh dear,” Eve whispered as she looked over Lena’s shoulder.

It was a mess. But before Lena looked at what they had done she looked for any sign of anyone waiting for them in the office or the panic room once the elevator arrived. Most importantly, she looked for any sign of Jess but she wasn’t around and neither was anyone else.

Just the mess and destruction that had been wrought upon her office.

Every inch of it had been turned upside down and everything that could be destroyed… had been. Paintings, ornaments, even the couch that she had filled with memories or brunches, lunches, tender hugs and, more recently, kisses and heated moments with Kara, had been reduced to scrap and stuffing.

All of which glowed under the blinking red of the emergency lights embedded into the walls signalling that the building was in lockdown.

No one could get in or out.

Lena held up a finger to caution Eve to be silent and pressed her ear to the door as the elevator came to a smooth halt. She could hear nothing over the pounding of her own blood rushing through her veins and her too loud breathing. Hoping that meant that everything really was okay and there was no sniper hiding in some blind spot behind the remnants of her couch, Lena nodded to Eve and pressed the button to allow the doors to open.

“We don’t have long. They’ll work out where we went soon enough and we need to stay ahead of them,” Lena whispered to Eve as she stormed across the room to pick the phone up off the floor. It was intact but there was no dial tone. “Looks like they’ve taken the lines out.”

“How do we find Jess?”

“She’s a smart woman and she knows a lot of the secret hiding places here… hopefully, she got to one before they found her.” If she was wrong and anything had happened to her, Lena swore she would go full on Luthor on every last one of them. “You should stay here and hide in the panic room, Eve.”

“No! Absolutely not, Ms Luthor!”

“Eve—”

“No,” Eve stated firmly, her hands coming to rest on the tops of Lena’s arms in a daring, determined move that she would normally never have dared make. “Jess is my friend too and I’m not about to let you go out there on your own… and I know you are so no pretending you’re not and then locking me in there either. I spent a summer in high school working at a theme park. I was a bunny and I learned how to get through all kinds of locked doors.”

“Okay, right—” Lena tilted her head in confusion, not quite sure where Eve was going with that part of her story.

Eve tightened her grip on her boss’s shoulders. “The point is… You’re going to need help out there and I’m not about to leave you or Jess hanging.” Realising she was crinkling Lena’s outfit with her inappropriate behaviour, she smoothed her hands across the fabric. “And if you fire me for that I’ll just tag along anyway.”

“I’m not going to fire you, Eve. Might not give you a pay rise for a couple of days though,” she warned with a teasing raise of a brow. “I am going to need the shirt off your back though!”

“Excuse me?” Eve blinked as Lena darted back into the panic room and started pressing along the wall muttering under her breath. Her accent had thickened to the point that Eve thought she heard ‘those fookers better not have found them’, but she wasn’t entirely sure and she was too relieved that she hadn’t been shoved in a closet or fired to question her good fortune or Lena’s accent.

“Haha!”

Eve blinked as a part of the wall slid back to reveal… suits? ‘Cause, of course, Lex Luthor would have suits in his panic room.

“Not ideal,” Lena grumbled as she flicked through and found a couple of shirts. “I never got around to replacing these and the pants are too big… more likely to kill ourselves if we try wearing those…”

“Ms Luthor?” Eve stared blankly at the white dress shirt Lena had thrust into her hands… it was either look at that or the woman herself and as she was standing there in her bra, looking at the shirt seemed like the safest option before she blurted out any questions about the hickeys in a meandering line that crisscrossed her torso and vanished beneath the waistband of her skirt.

“Get changed, Eve. We’re both adults, no need to be shy… not when there are idiots with guns out there.” Lena slipped her arms into the midnight blue shirt and paused as she realised that Eve was still standing there simply looking confused. “Sorry, I should have explained. My brother was… cautious about some things… all this,” she waved a hand to encompass the clothes, “is bulletproof.”

Eve felt her eyes widen as she picked up the sleeve of the shirt she was holding and felt how fine and ‘normal’ it felt. “Really?”

“Yes. He stole the fabric of course but I’m pretty sure I could replicate it and make it better if I have too—” and then she could actually get something made that didn’t look like a little kid that was playing dress up in adult clothing or like some love-struck girl stealing their boyfriend's shirt… which made her wonder what Kara would think if she borrowed her super suit?

Eve shot her a look. Seriously the woman was shot at far too regularly and she didn’t think making bulletproof clothing was a priority? She was about to put thought into words but Lena gave her an impatient look that had her fumbling to get changed before she had to put her lock picking skills to use to make sure her boss didn’t get into too much trouble.

“Have you got any weapons hidden around here too?”

“Looks like they’ve taken everything so we’ll just have to rely on our wits.”

“They don’t stand a chance,” Eve grinned.

“No, they don’t. But, let’s not try matching wits one on one with bullets. Ready?”

Eve fastened up the last button on her shirt and released a calming breath as she smoothed her hands down the front of it. “Let’s do this.”

With a firm nod, Lena punched a code into the controls of the panic room and stepped out before they closed and locked. It was risky, locking an escape route but she had no intention of trapping herself and staying put.

She led the way out of the office, every sense on high alert for the slightest noise. They tried a couple of phones but quickly gave up when it became apparent that the whole system was down. Until it was back up they weren’t getting a call out and with the lockdown protocols in effect, even Supergirl would find it nearly impossible to get in as it had been designed by Lex to keep even the strongest of aliens out.

The one good thing was that Lex had never had a chance to add Kryptonite to it. No matter what happened, Lena didn’t want them getting their hands on any of that and using it to hurt Kara again.

A door slamming ahead of them and hurried footsteps had Lena grabbing Eve and pulling her into an office and into a darkened corner out of sight. They huddled down, watching as Blake, Jensen and three other armed men rush by on their way to her office. It was tempting to wait and hope but once they found the office empty she knew they would start searching.

“Let’s go,” she hissed, “we need to put as much distance as we can between us and them before they find out we’re not there.”

Eve nodded and followed Lena as quickly as she could. Any second she expected to hear the sound of shouting or gunfire but trying to get into the panic room and find the carefully hidden elevator door would delay them.

Every step the took down through the towering structure of L-Corp had Lena’s heart pounding in fear so hard she felt like it would surely break out from behind her ribs and fly away and had her wishing that Lex hadn’t chosen the tallest building as a way to flash the size of his dick. Seriously, she was going to have a friggin’ heart attack or break an ankle thanks to her trademark killer heels before they got halfway down!

The size of L-Corp helped them too though as it spread their forces out thinly to the point that floors passed by without them seeing anyone to challenge them as they checked all the hiding places Lena knew Jess was aware of and a few that only she knew.

“Where is she?”

“I think they must have taken her down to the labs.” At least, Lena hoped they had. If they had a need for Jess then they wouldn’t have a reason to kill her.

The further they went, Lena could feel the mood and tension growing in herself and the increasing number of armed thugs they were having to dodge. “Eve, I need you to get to the control room and see if you can wrestle the building out of their control long enough to get a call out to the DEO and end the lockdown so help can get it.”

“Ms Luthor—”

“Eve, I think under the circumstances you can call me Lena—”

“Okay, Lena it is. Cool. But what about Jess, Ms Luthor?”

“If she’s alive they must have her down in the labs, there’s not much else below us now. I’ll get her out but I need you to get a message out to Supergirl and the others so we stand a chance. Okay?”

Eve nodded still somewhat reluctant to let Lena go off alone even though her reasons for splitting up were sound. There was only so much they could do alone and they desperately needed some heavy hitters to help back up their science.

“Okay.”

Lena waited a moment after Eve went through the nondescript looking door that led to the control room just to make sure all was well before she went through the door opposite that led down to some of the labs that while not being ‘secret’ were more secure and off-limits than the ones she allowed visitors to see. They didn’t contain the weapons that the Children of Liberty were no doubt hoping for but she didn’t want what was there getting into their hands either.

She heard raised voices ahead and a sound of flesh striking flesh followed by a cry of pain from Jess that had Lena’s blood boiling.

“Enter the code!”

“I don’t- I don’t know the code! Only authorised personnel have access to the labs—”

“We’re not stupid! You’re Luthor’s assistant! You’ve got assess so stop playin’ like you don’t!”

With hands trembling with rage, Lena yanked a fire extinguisher off the wall and moved closer to the voices as another slap rang out like a gunshot. She could see them, two men… bullies! Crowding in on Jess as she struggled to get back to her feet from where she had been sent sprawling from the blow. Lena gripped the extinguisher tighter, struggling to remember her training at the light of the livid mark standing out on Jess’ cheek, her swollen shut eye and the blood dripping from her nose and split lip.

She held up a hand as Jess saw her but she needn’t have worried, apart from a brief, hopeful brightening of her eyes, she remained as calm as ever, treating their overbearing bullying no different than a difficult standoff with a testy member of the board.

“You can beat me all you want,” Jess spat out. “Even if I had the codes I’d never give them to you!”

“You better hurry up and change your tune little girl! Once our buddies get down here with that Luthor bitch we won’t have need of you!”

“The only thing not needed around here is you!”

As they wheeled around to face her, Lena pulled the trigger on the fire extinguisher, blasting them both in the face with the contents. They cried out, stumbling backwards in their haste to escape and as one stumbled over a nicely timed kick from Jess, Lena smashed the other in the head with the extinguisher.

Never had a dull thud sounded so sweet!

“Jess, would you like to do the honours?”

Even though it hurt, Jess grinned as she took the fire extinguisher from Lena and hefted the weight in her hands. She let him stew just for a split second as he cleared his eyes from the spray, just long enough for it to register what was coming, and then she swung down, bouncing the hard metal of the extinguisher off her skull.

Trembling, she leaned against a table for support and watched as Lena quickly hogtied them. She felt like she should help but she could almost feel herself slipping into shock with every passing second, so much so that she didn’t even see Lena stand up and move towards her until she felt her taking the extinguisher out of her hands and felt the gentle support of her hands upon her cheek and shoulder, the crystal green of her eyes gazing at her with such concern.

“You’re okay. We’re going to get out now, okay?” She smiled as Jess gave a nod. “If you want to make use of the extinguisher again I won’t judge.”

Jess bit back on a laugh and cradled her ribs as Lena gave her a wink. “Tempting, but they’re not worth the effort.” She, however, did have the strength to bend down and pick up the gun one of them had dropped. And yes, their nervous glances as she expertly checked it was ready for action was worth it. “Eight years of target practice and skeet shooting,” she explained at Lena’s impressed glance. “I could take these boys apart and shoot the wings off a fly with ease.”

“If we ever have a company paintball or laser tag event, you’re on my team.”

“It would be my pleasure… maybe when my ribs aren’t hurting so much though,” Jess winced.

“Come on,” Lena gently lifted Jess’ arm and tucked her shoulder up under her for support. "Let’s go see how Eve is doing.”

Jess nodded and leaned on Lena as they made their way to the door. Not that she had much choice, every step was painful and dragged at her desire to get the hell away from the danger until her head was almost dropped against Lena’s shoulder as she opened the door.

She felt Lena’s body go stiff and heard her let out an uncharacteristic swearword before her eyes could take in the two DEO suited agents standing there with a battered Eve kneeling on the hard ground before them.

“I’m afraid that whatever plan you thought you had is over, Luthor. Nope, none of that, you drop the gun right now!”

“Do as he says, Jess. You want in that lab? Let Jess and Eve leave and I’ll open it up for you.”

“Hmmm, better yet, they stay right here and you open up that lab and every other one in this building with no complaints or funny business or we’ll shoot them right in front of you every time I feel like you’re fucking with us!” Blake barked in agitation, his fist tightening harshly in Eve’s hair until she let out a cry of pain to emphasise his point and their lack of options.

“Wait!” Jensen pressed his finger against the mic in his ear. “Repeat your last message. Over!”

“What’s wrong?”

“Supergirl is here!”

“It doesn’t matter, she won’t make it in time to save her pet human!”

“Pet? I thought Liberty’s spiel was that we were in cahoots. Frankly, I’m insulted that you all can’t make up your minds,” Lena looked around as she tried to stall Blake but she knew she was running out of time and options.

“Shut up! Now, where are they, Luthor? Where are the weapons?!”

“Well right now we’re in the… East Wing, third floor, corridor B,” she enunciated slowly and carefully.

The words were barely out of her mouth when the wall behind Jensen exploded and an avenging angel in red and blue stepped through the sizeable hole her wrath and fists had created. The usual sunny expression on her face was gone, leaving behind a cold fury that had her eyes looking storm-tossed and dangerous as they raked across the scene before her and settled on Jensen first.

He fired, his bullets bouncing off the centre of the crest on her chest and clattering to the floor at her feet.

Kara wrapped her fist in the front of his uniform as she grabbed his gun in the other and with a squeeze of her hand turned it into an unrecognisable lump of metal. With a flick of her wrist, she sent him flying the length of the corridor. Head snapping around, Kara turned her gaze on Blake. She could feel the heat building at the back of her eyes ready to explode as she saw him start to pull back on the trigger with his weapon pointing right at Lena.

The gun barked out, muzzle flashing as she huffed out a breath that lifted him off his feet. Almost at the same moment, she moved, speeding to Lena’s side, her outstretched hand catching the bullet barely an inch away from her forehead.

Her body trembled in anger, fear and relief, as every emotion seemed to catch up to her body in a rush. She crushed the bullet that had come to close to taking Lena from her and let it drop to the floor.

“Are you okay?” She ran her hands and eyes over Lena, gently cupping her jaw and resting their foreheads together.

“I’m fine, darling. Jess and Eve took a beating… Could you?”

“Of course.” Smiling softly, Kara turned her attention to Jess. “Is it okay if I help you out of here, Jess?”

Jess’ one eye capable of opening widened as what Supergirl meant made it through her pain-addled brain. She nodded and swore she came embarrassingly close to swooning as she was swept up in strong arms and felt the brush of air across her battered face as she was carried away to safety and placed in the care of a waiting medic.

As soon as Kara knew that Jess was safe, she flew back through the building and landed gently at Eve’s side so as not to startle her. “Are you ready, Eve?”

“No… thank you, but no. I need to stay and help, Ms Luthor.”

“Eve, you need to get checked out,” Lena protested gently.

“It’s going to take more than those assholes to keep me down when those astronauts need help.”

“Then I hope you don’t mind me checking you over, Ms Teschmacher?” Alex stated firmly as she stepped through the impressive gap her sister had left in the wall. The sight of Blake and Jensen had her itching to take out some frustration on them and she guessed it showed as she felt Kara’s hand come to rest on her arm.

“Fine, I’ll wait to kick their asses until later if you get them out of my sight. Don’t worry, I’ll take care of Lena for you.”

“Oh! There’s two more tied up in the lab.” Lena’s hair ruffled in the breeze left by Kara’s body super speeding passed, dragging bodies with no care as to how the speed would affect them and Lena couldn’t find it in her to care if they were puking up in the gutter outside as, before Alex could even make it to Eve’s side, Kara was standing in front of her again, her hair settling in unfairly gorgeous waves around her strong shoulders.

Opening her arms, Lena wrapped them around Kara as she all but fell into her embrace, her breath shuddering out of her in relief.

“I thought I’d lost you when I heard your heart go wild.”

“I had to get Brainy to trace her she left so fast.” Now the danger was over, Alex allowed herself a small laugh as she remembered what had happened but as relieved as she was, she knew she would be having nightmares for weeks about the anguish on Kara’s face when they had caught up to her outside of L-Corp. “Not sure what the hell kind of barriers you’ve got here Lena but I thought Kara was going to knock herself out from trying to beat her way in.”

Lena frowned softly, her hands running up and down Kara’s back at the hint of reproach in Alex’s voice. “That’s mostly Lex’s doing. I’ll update the protocols and make sure you’ve got a way in,” she whispered against Kara’s ear.

“You don’t have to do that—”

“Yes, I do. How else are you going to save me if you can’t get in?”

“You could try not getting into dangerous situations?”

“Says the woman getting ready to fly into space to stop the space station from crashing.” Lena raised a brow and smiled as Kara fidgeted slightly, the bluster of Supergirl bleeding away to reveal the shy reporter she had first met. “And that reminds me, I really need to get to work.” She _had_ to, she needed to give the woman she loved the best chance possible of making it back to her in on piece. “Do you think all the gunmen have been rounded up?”

“Everything is all clear for you, Lee.”

Eve yelped at the sudden appearance of a masked woman with flaming red hair hanging upside down, her head peeking through the gap in the wall. It took a couple of far too long seconds for her brain to slow down long enough and realise that it was Batwoman.

“Idiot!” Maggie slapped the back of Kate’s head as she ducked under her to join the others. “As she was saying though, we’ve rounded everyone up. Not that they put up much of a fight once this one swooped in,” she pointed a thumb back over her shoulder at Kate. “I think most of them thought she was Batman though,” she teased, knowing how to take Kate down a peg or two.

“Bats wishes he was as good!” Kate huffed.

**********

Despite everyone’s assurance that L-Corp was safe once more. Despite the evidence of her own ears as they scoured the building and finding nothing… other than James still awaiting rescue in the parking area…

Oops!

Kara refused to leave her there. And Lena didn’t protest the fact for more than a second. Not even the fact that Kara spent the good part of thirty minutes spinning around and around on a stool making everyone but herself dizzy, made Lena love her any less… though she was tempted to try and tip her off the stool after twenty-eight minutes.

Instead, she asked Kara to help.

And that was when she found out what else they had in common… another thing that Kara had been hiding from everyone.

A passion for science.

It lit her face up as she started to tinker beside herself and Eve, offering opinions and talking about what she knew from her studies on Krypton. Even though she had lost her home when she was thirteen, her knowledge outstripped everyone.

Lena paused for a moment, watching as Kara worked and talked so passionately. She couldn’t help but wonder what it must have been like, having to hide everything she knew as it was so different from what anyone on Earth had ever dreamed of… most certainly far different than the normal, every day, schoolchild she was supposed to be would have known.

She had spent the whole of her life on Earth hiding who she was whether she was in her cape or wearing her glasses and Lena wanted her to never feel like she had to hide anything from her ever again.

“What’s wrong?” Kara smiled softly, her eyes dropping to the soft lips that had just ghosted across her own.

“Just thinking about you.”

“Oh?”

“Yes. And no fishing for compliments.”

“I wasn’t going to—” Kara huffed as Lena reached out and tapped a finger between her eyebrows to let her know that her old crinkly nemesis had made an appearance. “Crinkle!”

“I think it’s sweet,” chuckling, Lena gently tilted Kara’s head down and pressed her lips against it. “Now, let me just run the numbers to make sure this is okay.”

Kara rocked on the stool as Lena tapped away at the tablet in her hand, her green eyes flicking over the numbers scrolling past at a rate almost too fast even for her to see. She could tell that whatever Lena was seeing was good though as a look of satisfaction had her lips curving upwards.

“Perfect! Or as perfect as it can be with the time,” Lena frowned.

“Then I’m sure it’s better than anything anyone with all the time in the world could come up with,” Kara assured her.

“It better be with what’s at stake.”

“I’ll get them out.”

“I was thinking about you, Kara. They signed up knowing what the risks could be… You just go blindly leaping in.”

Capturing Lena’s hands, Kara pulled her into the curve of her body before she could start pacing. “I’ll always come back to you, Lena.”

“You better.”

Picking up the palm-sized device they had been working on, Lena placed it against Kara’s chest and pressed a button along the side.

Beneath her hand she could feel it working as the exoskeleton suit flowed out, inky black as it spread to cover Kara’s body before it reformed, solidifying and changing shape to fit her body precisely and match the colours and designs she had programmed into it months before.

She stepped back as it finished and had to agree with Eve’s softly breathed ‘wow’. “I know you don’t like confined spaces so I hope the helmet will be okay. Ready?” Getting a nod she pressed a hidden button and let Kara grip her hand as the helmet started to form around her.

Kara breathed a sigh of relief and relaxed her grip on Lena’s hand. She had been more scared than she’d realised at the thought of a helmet but it barely even felt like there was one there it was so light and didn’t interfere with her sight either even though a glance in a mirror showed it to look blacked out from the outside.

“I there any way to make this clear?”

“Yes,” Lena quickly talked her through how to call up the heads up display and how to control what it showed so that it didn’t get too overwhelming. “I started designing this when you told me what it was like to be poisoned by Kryptonite.”

“You mean—”

“Yes, even when I was mad at you,” Lena shrugged. “I couldn’t stand the thought of it doing that to you so I made this to protect you, and started working on an antidote too. Ideally, immunity to it would be best but that will take time to work out.” Fiddling at the tablet in her hands, Lena smiled in satisfaction as the back of the suit shifted and Kara’s cape was released to hang from her shoulders.

“Thanks, that felt terrible all bunched up back there.”

Tapping her fingers upon the hard material of the suit and the house of El crest she’d worked into it, Lena pressed her lips to the front of Kara’s helmet. “You’re welcome. Now, I think it’s time we headed on over to the DEO.” She stepped back, smirking slightly at the perfect lipstick print she’d left behind.


	18. Chapter 18

The flight back to the DEO building was exhilarating. But then, any time that she had Lena in her arms was exhilarating to Kara. She knew that her girlfriend hated to fly—

_Golly, but that was amazing to think that she had a girlfriend— Wait! Were they girlfriends?_

Kara hoped so, she really did, but they hadn’t exactly had the chance to discuss what their relationship meant to Lena.

Hearing a soft yip from Lena and feeling her arms tighten around her neck as she flew them around the edge of the CatCo building with a slightly sharper turn than would have been needed if her mind hadn’t been distracted, Kara decided that that was probably a question best left until Lena’s feet were back on the ground.

With nothing but an open skyline between them and the DEO, Kara chanced a glance down and found that, despite her shocked cry before, Lena was looking back at her and looking surprisingly calm and relaxed.

“Are you okay?”

“You mean when you’re not trying to take a shortcut through CatCo?” Lena arched a brow at her and smiled at the sheepish expression and blush on Kara’s face. “Yes. I’m okay,” she clarified at Kara’s quizzical look. “I might not like flying but I don’t mind flying with you so much.”

Unable to resist, Lena ran her fingers across the nape of Kara’s neck just above the edge of her new suit where her helmet would have been protecting her if Kara hadn’t decided she would rather fly with the wind in her face while she could. She almost regretted it as Kara’s smooth flight faltered and she dropped a couple of feet as a shiver ran visibly through her body from her touch.

“Lena!” Kara glared down at her reproachfully. She tightened her grip as Lena got a look on her face she knew all too well. One that somehow managed to blend innocence, seduction and an innate impish streak as she sank her teeth into her bottom lip in a way that had Kara aching to do the same and wondering just how many kisses it would take to remove the enticing red of the lipstick she was wearing.

“Sorry,” Lena smirked, not in the least bit sorry at all for being able to affect the remarkable woman carrying her in such a way. “How does the suit feel to fly in?”

“Amazing,” Kara smiled. “I love the pants. Means I don’t have to worry about people trying to up-skirt me when I’m rescuing cats from trees.”

“What? People do that?” Lena gawped at her, utterly appalled and frowned at Kara’s resigned shrug. “I’ll sue every last one of them!” she growled.

Kara gave the woman in her arms a tighter hug and really had to restrain herself from telling Lena that she looked like a furious kitten with her arms crossed and her lips pursed with righteous anger as she looked ready to take on the world for her.

It was adorable and utterly sexy.

Kara slowed as the balcony entrance to the DEO came into view. She had never thought about it before but her most favourite balcony in the whole of National City was the one that Lena had built seemingly just for her after their first meeting. Sacrificing a good portion of her office so she would have somewhere to land even though she didn’t really like heights.

She adjusted her grip subtly, righting her flight until she was almost upright as they drifted down the stairs and landed in the central control room next to Alex and Brainy as gently as she could.

“You can put me down now, Supergirl,” Lena quietly reminded her as Kara seemed content to just stand there with her cradled in her arms. She didn’t mind the position and it was quite comfortable but she could see the bemused and speculative expressions fixed upon them.

“Oh! Right! Sorry about that, Ms Luthor.”

Kara missed her as soon as she put her down and didn’t know quite what to do with her arms… Until Lena stepped just that bit closer, using the guise of looking over data at the control table to brush their bodies and fingers together as often as she could.

“Nice suit!” Alex ignored the not so subtle actions of the pair and focussed upon what her sister was wearing.

“Oh, my!” Brainy all but threw the datapad he was holding over his shoulder as he finally focused on what Supergirl was wearing. He knew it well as he had seen schematics and even one of the early prototypes in a museum on Earth. It was legendary… and for some reason, he hadn’t known that Lena Luthor was behind its creation!

Which in hindsight, it was obvious as the woman herself, and her company in the future was responsible for many of the greatest breakthroughs that had helped humans and aliens alike. He looked at them both and tried to hold back his excitement, feeling as though he was watching history unfolding right before his eyes.

“Agent Dox?” Alex waved a hand in front of his face.

“Brainy?”

“Agent Dox!?”

“What?”

“You kind of made a noise… Are you okay?”

“What? Me? A Noise you say? No… I’m fine. Fine!”

Alex blinked in bemusement as the Coluan walked off in a sudden rush, got ten foot and then turned around and went in the opposite direction. “Swear he looked like he was about to start crying,” she muttered.

“That would be absurd!” he snorted as he picked up his datapad again and tried to pretend he hadn’t had what some might see as a bit of a breakdown for precisely four-point-eight seconds.

“So what can this beauty do then?” Alex rapped a knuckle against the armour-like material. There was no way that this was something Lena had laying around and had converted over from another project. Workmanship like this took time and care… it took love.

A love she could see on Lena’s face as she turned to admire the suit with her while Kara huffed softly, resigned to just playing mannequin for the moment.

“Do you mind, love?”

“Go ahead,” Kara smiled softly.

“Right now it’s keyed into a select number of fingerprints… Actually, just mine and Kara’s.” She ran the tip of a finger across the front of the suit, searching for and finding the right area to press on the crest of Kara’s chest.

“Wow!” Alex stepped back in shock as the suit shimmered and seemed to melt to reveal Kara standing there in her usual super-suit while Lena was left holding a small, palm-sized device in her hand.

“Anyone else finding it will get no reaction and, well I guess for security it could be made to look like a small vanity mirror or a compact. Otherwise… Supergirl, would you do the honours?”

Kara took the offered device out of Lena’s hand and held it against her chest. She could feel Alex and Brainy’s eyes tracking the flow of the suit as it encased her body and she knew that normally she would have been watching it too but how could she when the brilliance of Lena’s green eyes were fixed upon her own and shining with such love?

“Okay, that is amazing!”

“Yes, she is,” Lena whispered softly under her breath. Her hand came to rest for just a moment over Kara’s where it lay against her crest until she was brought back to just where she was by Alex giving a not at all subtle clearing of her throat.

“It’s resistant to the effects of Kryptonite,” she raised her voice slightly, ignoring Kara’s grin as she pretended she hadn’t been thinking about dragging her to bed and peeling her out of the suit. “Bulletproof and puncture resistant too, so if Lockwood or anyone else tries to use it against her it will protect her. Also, it has got some emitters built into it that can give off brief bursts of the same energy Supergirl absorbs from a yellow sun. That can be activated remotely just in case.”

“What about using her powers in it?”

“She should have full use of them. The helmet is designed to allow the energy from her breath and even her eyes through while still retaining its integrity so she can breathe the recycled air. It’s not really designed for prolonged exposure to space but it’s designed to be protection for her so it’s more than capable.”

“Helmet?” Alex looked around, wondering if they had forgotten to bring such a vital piece of the suit with them.

“Would you mind?”

“Sure,” Kara smiled brightly, happy to show off more of what Lena had created.

Alex breathed out a whistle as her sister somehow remotely activated something within the suit and a helmet formed over her head, taking form out of some kind of dark material before it solidified and cleared so they could see her face from the visor… and also the bright lipstick print on it.

“Isn’t it amazing?! I’m going to head down to the training room for a couple of minutes so I can get a feel of it with the helmet on! Are you coming, Lena?”

“Should we tell her?” Brainy stage-whispered to Alex as they walked away. “We should tell her—” his step forward was halted by an extended arm blocking his path. He looked down at it and then followed the length of it until he took in the Director's profile.

“No, let her find out on her own.” Alex shook her head as Kara all but dragged Lena out of the control room with her as though afraid that if she took her eyes off her someone would try and whisk Lena away. “Somehow I don’t think it will be the last time we get to see something like that,” she huffed before smiling fondly as she heard Kara questioning why they had been looking at her like _that_ and Lena had glanced back over her shoulder with the softest of smirks on her face and a twinkle in her eyes.

“No idea, darling.”

**********

Humming quietly under her breath, Lena spared a quick glance as the door to the training room opened to admit Eve and Alex before returning to study the readings on the pad she was holding. With deft taps upon the screen added a line of code to adjust the helmet ever so slightly.

“How is that now?”

Looking up, she watched as Kara fired a blast from her eyes that raked a perfect line down the centre of a sheet of metal hanging in place from the ceiling. The metal glowed and parted, leaving both pieces clanging together as they swung from the thick chains bolted to one corner.

“Much better.”

“Left side, fifth link down! Right side, bottom link!”

“What?” Kara turned to look at Lena but was met by the sight of a finely manicured finger pointed emphatically at the swinging metal while her head was down bent, her eyes intent on the screen full of data.

Smirking softly, Lena lifted her eyes and watched as Kara grumbled and quickly shot out two beams that severed the chains and sent the metal crashing to the ground with a resounding clatter. Closing the gap between them, Lena placed herself right in front of Kara and with a swift swipe of her finger, she got the suit to lower the helmet.

“Was that okay?”

Leaning closer, a steadying hand braced upon the strength of Kara’s shoulder, she pressed a soft kiss to the corner of her mouth. “Perfect,” she drawled quietly. “And your aim was pretty good too.”

Her heart sang as Kara’s face split with a huge grin and her hands came to rest upon her waist. The strength of them was tempered by the gentleness that was innately her as they eased her closer until their bodies were almost pressed together.

Lena tried to see if Eve or Alex were paying attention or if anyone else had entered the room while they were distracted but Kara’s words, softly husked against her lips as she dipped her head, just had her biting back a whimpered moan as she clutched at her shoulders.

“I don’t care if the whole world could see us right now.”

Kara moved to close the last bit of gap that remained between them but Lena was already there, her body surging up under her hands, driving their lips together in a hungry kiss that Kara matched eagerly.

“Seriously?”

“Aww, my OTP!”

Alex rolled her eyes as Eve clutched her hands together and grinned wildly like she was seconds away from rushing across the room to hug them. Though, whether they would even notice as they were still locked in a ridiculously cheesy, grandiose moment kind of kiss, complete with foot lift and… _Oh god! Seriously, a dip?_ Was debatable.

“Okay! Enough of that!” Alex clapped her hands together sharply. “People to be saved, Kara!” Alex gawped in astonishment as Lena lifted a hand from Kara’s shoulder and held a finger up to signal for one more moment. “Really? I’m getting the hose!”

“We haven’t got a hose.” Kara didn’t even break eye contact with Lena while she corrected Alex… no more than it took to glance back down at the full curve of her kiss-swollen lips anyway.

“Give me a couple of hours and I’ll have them installed everywhere,” Alex stated with narrowed eyes that rolled as they leaned back in for another kiss. “Okay, fine! Thirty seconds top and then back to work.”

Shaking her head, a smile playing around her lips, Alex excused herself from the room and went to stand outside. Leaning against the wall she sighed and wrapped her arms around her waist. She missed that level of intimacy and being so lost in someone that nothing else in the world mattered.

She missed Maggie.

That ship had sailed though. Unfortunately. Alex could tell by the looks passing between Maggie and Kate that there was something deep starting to blossom there. Something that she was more than a little bit jealous of even though she had lost the right to feel that way. She also knew that there was no going back though. What they wanted in life was just too different and compromising would just lead to resentment. Though, now that she was Director of the DEO, Alex sometimes wondered if her desire to have children wasn’t going to end up permanently on hold?

When J’onn had offered her the promotion he had said she could have both but with how things had been she was finding it difficult to see a way to juggle everything when her life seemed to revolve around moving from one crisis to the next.

“Director?” Eve gently touched the other woman on the shoulder to get her attention and watched as she built walls up and buried whatever had brought the sadness to her eyes. “They seem to be done for the moment.”

“Best get in before they start up again then.”

Alex couldn’t even be a little bit put out by the delay as she looked at her sister and saw the joy shining off her. Kara had never had many relationships, she’d never dared. And when she had let herself dream of loving someone it had always left her sad before it had even started. Or, in the case of Mon-El… it should never have started in the first place with the way he had treated her.

With Lena though… their life experiences were startlingly similar. Both orphans. Both betrayed by family secrets that revealed them to be different than what they’d known. Both having the unrelenting gaze of everyone locked upon them expecting them to fail and fall.

And, despite their brief stutter, they had obviously found a deep love in each other.

Really, it was _sickening_ … in all the best ways.

“Brainy says you’ll need to leave in the next fifteen minutes. Is everything ready?”

“I would prefer more time to perfect the suit,” Lena grumbled.

“Which in Lena speak means it’s perfect,” Kara assured her sister.

“Perfect would be being able to send the suit up by remote so you don’t have to go at all! Sorry,” Lena took a calming breath. “This wasn’t designed for use in space and well… what it’s protecting means more to me than the world, than the entire universe.” Her breathing hitched at the brush of Kara’s thumb across her cheek. Even through the glove covering her flesh, she could feel the heat radiating from her.

“I’ll be fine—”

“A part of me knows that, Kara. And I would never ask you to change who you are. I know how much you love helping people. But I would like to be able to do my best to help make sure you get home safely.”

“Which is why I want you and Eve in the control room for us, Lena. You know the best way to make sure that happens and I would really like my sister to make it back in one piece too.”

“Well, that saves me demanding the exact same thing of chaining myself to the desk to make sure you can’t remove me. Cancel the chains, Eve.”

“On it, boss.”

Alex stared at them both, knowing that Lena was teasing and yet, given everything else the woman was capable off she wondered if she shouldn’t frisk them both just to make sure they hadn’t managed to sneak huge lengths of chain through security. And, damn it, she could tell by Lena’s wicked smirk that she knew she’d made her wonder.

“Payback for that poke with the stick that time, Alex,” Lena smirked. Turning to Kara, she ran her hand down her arm and gave her fingers a loving squeeze. “I’ll just go over the figures one last time with Eve.”

Alex gave Lena a grateful smile as she stepped away to give them some room. It was quite unnecessary, but also very welcome. “Sister movie night when you get back? You can bring Lena as long as you don’t kick me off the couch two seconds in just so you can make out.”

“Definitely, been too long since we got to hang out and relax. You buy the food through!”

“You trying to bankrupt me with that bottomless pit that passes for a stomach?”

Kara laughed as Alex poked her in the gut with her finger. It had also been too long since they had been able to laugh together. The laugh fell away though as Kara saw the shine of tears on Alex’s lashes as her face fell.

“Hey,” Kara pulled her big sister into a hug. “I’m going to be okay. Then we can have all the sister nights you want. Maybe we can even get Brainy to put a call out to the future and get Winn to come back for a games night?”

“I like the sound of that,” Alex smiled. “And if he can’t make it I think we’re getting some pretty good friends that can help me beat you at trivia,” she nodded across the room to where Lena and Eve were deep in conversation.

“Lena is on my team.”

“You can’t call dibs before games night!”

“When it comes to Lena I’ve got permanent first dibs rights.”

“Fine,” Alex huffed playfully, thoroughly enjoying their moment of ‘normal’ before the storm was sure to hit. “Ms Teschmacher! What are you like at trivia games and Pictionary?!”

Eve dragged her eyes away from Director Danvers’ and looked to her boss in confusion as to why she was being dragged into whatever was going on.

Lena waved a hand at her without even lifting her eyes from the screen. “Just go with it, Eve.”

“Erm, well, I’m pretty good actually, Director Danvers’.” Before her cousin had gotten too sick, they had used to play games to pass the time. She kept that to herself though, the memory too painful to share.

“Wonderful! Once this one has done saving the day you can be my partner next games night!”

“I wouldn’t want to intrude—”

“You wouldn’t be,” Kara quickly assured her even as she placed a gentle hand on Alex’s shoulder, squeezing the tense muscle there. She knew what her sister was doing… planning ahead and daring fate to step in and ruin their plans.

“In that case… I would be honoured,” Eve nodded in understanding.

“I would wait until you see Alex’s lack of skills at Pictionary before you say that.”

“That was a horse and you know it.” Alex narrowed her eyes at her.

“Nope, couldn’t see it. Looked more like a cloud to me,” Kara teased back.

Alex opened her mouth ready to jump right back into an argument that had been running for ten months but a slight crackle over the coms signalled it being activated.

“Director Danvers!”

“Inside voice, Brainy.” Alex reminded him.

“My apologies, Director. We have got a hit on a possible location for Agent Liberty from the rather inventive little program that Ms Luthor attached to the video.”

“We’ll be right there. Get in touch with Kane and Sawyer, have them on standby if they’re not too busy.”

“I’m looking forward to this,” Kara gritted out darkly.

“’Fraid not, Supergirl.” Alex planted a hand on Kara’s chest. “You’ve got a space station to save, remember. You deal with that and we’ll get Lockwood rounded up. Lena and Eve will stay in the control room with Brainy to coordinate everything… They’ll be safe with him,” she whispered, knowing instinctively that Kara would be reluctant to leave Lena alone after Blake and Jensen’s betrayal.

**********

Ignoring any looks that might fall upon them because frankly, she didn’t care who saw, Kara held Lena’s hand all the way back to the control room, drawing strength from the simple contact. While the others went about their business, they walked up the steps that led to the balcony. She couldn’t help but look at the armed guards warily as they passed, wondering if any of them might be just waiting for their moment to strike.

“Focus, Supergirl.” Lena gave the hand within hers a firm squeeze, drawing the brilliant blue of Kara’s eyes to hers. “If anything happens to you because you’re too busy worrying about me your sister will lock me up and throw away the key.”

“She wouldn’t dare.”

“If she didn’t, I would. I refuse to let what we have get in the way of you doing what you need to. I did miserable and alone in Gotham, don’t make me do that again to keep you safe,” she warned firmly. “El mayarah.”

“El mayarah.”

“Now, go save the day, Supergirl.”

Lena stepped back as the huge glass door slid open with a barely audible whoosh. The wind whistling across the city found its way through the gap and sent Kara’s golden hair fluttering around her shoulders as she hovered just above the floor. She struck a striking and imposing figure as she just hung there with the sun casting a halo around her body and her cape fluttering around her.

She looked godly. Otherworldly. Out of reach of mere mortals.

It was a sight that had caused her brother to go insane when he had seen Superman for the first time. All Lena saw was the gentle, compassionate, loving woman beneath the mantle of the suit she wore, the crest upon her chest and the cape hanging from her shoulders. All she saw was how Kara looked into her eyes with such love.

She turned in a gentle, elegant move, her eyes staying on hers until she suddenly vanished out of the building in a blur of speed that left people throughout the control room picking up scattered papers.

Laughing softly, Lena watched the blur of colour vanishing up into the sky as long as she could. Which in the end was just about as long as it took her to pull her hair back into a more secure ponytail.

“Now you know why I keep getting a shorter haircut each year.”

“Really? I thought it was just a statement of badassness.”

“Nope, all Supergirl.”

“Damn, Supes looks _gooooood_ in that new suit, Lee. Maybe I should get you to design a new one for me. But then, how can you improve on perfection?”

Maggie rolled her eyes and smacked Kate on the shoulder on the way to stand nearer to the others so they wouldn’t have to shout. “Pretty sure Lena thinks that perfection just flew on out of here. So, where are we heading to, Danvers?”

Alex felt herself grinning in anticipation, her expression matching those of the other two women at the thought of being able to get down and dirty and do something proactive instead of reactive. “I’ll fill you in on the way out. Brainy… Lena is in charge. Make sure nothing happens to her and try to stop her hacking everything.”

“Too late,” Lena muttered under her breath as Eve tried to stifle a giggle.

**********

Kara waited as long as she could before activating the helmet. It felt strange not to be able to feel the force of the air against her skin or tugging at her hair. And for one horrible, terrifying moment, it reminded her all too clearly of being in the pod that had taken away from Krypton and inadvertently become her prison for many years. She felt her heart rate spike and then settle, her nerves calming as Lena’s voice came to her as a gentle whisper over the coms.

The quietness forced her to listen carefully, to hang on to what she was saying.

“… in and out, Kara. In and out. Follow my voice. You’ve got this.”

Kara wasn’t sure how she did it, but suddenly she could hear the sound of Lena’s heart coming through too and knew she had listened to her sleepy ramble about it calming her as she had nuzzled her head against her.

“That belongs to you, Kara. I never thought, never dared to dream, that it was possible to feel for someone the way that I feel about you. I knew you would be important in my life right from the moment I laid eyes on you… as Kara Danvers then again as Supergirl. I felt seen as myself and not as Lex’s kid sister or just another Luthor.”

“The Luthor name doesn’t deserve you,” Kara breathed, her strength returning to her with every word and ever heartbeat from Lena.

“Well, you make me believe that.”

Kara smiled at the shyness and hint of pride within Lena’s voice and how it brought out her accent.

“How’s it looking out there?”

“Much better for hearing your voice.”

“I’m going to do some not at all illegal hacking of some satellites and repurpose them so we can keep talking and I can patch you in with the space station and they can talk you through what they need you to do.”

“Okay, cool.”

“There will be a little while where we can’t talk though so I need you to stay focused and calm ‘cause I’ll be right with you just as soon as I can, okay?”

“Okay,” Kara nodded determinedly even though she knew no one could see her. “How’s it going on that other thing?”

“They just left. Brainy is huffing because the hideout is at an abandoned warehouse, he said it is ‘so cliché’.”

Lena’s perfect impersonation of Brainy had Kara struggling not to let out an inelegant snort within the confines of the helmet.

**********

Lena had been through many things in her life but as communication failed between them, Lena felt sure that the worst thing ever was that time of not knowing where every second stretched out and felt like hours as they waited and waited for the static to clear.

Brainy doesn’t help matters. Not that Lena lets on. But the measured way in which he counts off the seconds does nothing to calm Lena’s nerves. The only thing that does is when she hears the pop of static and Kara’s voice. Then and only then does she release the breath she hadn’t even been aware of holding and allowed herself to sag against the central console she had been holding onto for dear life.

“Supergirl! How is it looking?”

“Lena! I-I need to speak to Lena!”

“I’m here.” Through sheer force of will, Lena kept her voice as calm as she could. “Do you need to hear my heart too?”

“Please?” Kara closed her eyes, her breathing softening as the familiar, if slightly racing, sound of Lena’s heart filled her once more. “Thank you.”

“Any time,” Lena assured her gently.

“Okay, I can see the space station.” Angling her body, Kara allowed the momentum she had built up to propel her towards the space station.

“We’re patching you through to them now. How’s it looking?”

“Bad. Really bad,” Kara sighed as she took a closer look at the ailing space station. There was not as much gas being expelled as earlier but whether that was due to some inventive repairs from inside or if it was simply that the oxygen was running out it was impossible to say but at least it wasn’t spinning as wildly. The interior lights were going on and off as systems failed and struggled to keep going and as she neared, Kara could see the astronauts working intently through the windows and saw the moment she was spotted as one of them did a double take that sent them backflipping away from the window in shock.

“Supergirl?”

“Yes, I’m here to help.” The relief in the voice over the coms was a physical thing. “If you’ll just let me know what to do...”

********

With practiced ease, Lena kept her attention on everything that she could at the same time; checking Kara’s vitals, keeping an eye on the suit and tweaking controls where needed while pulling up schematics of the space station as the damage was relayed to Kara and sending details on what she needed to look for back to her via the helmet.

And while she was doing that, she kept half an ear locked on how the other mission was progressing.

“… No signs of life at the warehouse so far.”

“Looks like it was abandoned in a hurry.”

“There are weapons… Looks alien but I’m betting this is what nearly took out Luthor.”

“Fuck me!”

“What’s wrong, Danvers?”

“There are some boxes here. They’re labelled ‘Cadmus’.”

Lena felt anger surge through her at the name and the knowledge that somehow, once again, her mother had a hand in everything going wrong even though she was locked up in a maximum security prison!

“There’s more to check. Going in deeper.”

“… Lena? Lena, what’s wrong?”

“Nothing.”

“Lee, I just heard your heart spike through the roof.”

“Just something to deal with later.”

“Lee—”

“What’s my heart doing now?”

“Calming down,” Kara admitted.

“Exactly. What’s happening there is nothing that can’t wait. Right now you need to be focussing on the repairs.”

“So bossy.”

“You better believe it,” Lena smiled. “Now, how’s it going?”

“Just getting to where I need to do a bit of welding.”

“Make sure you hold on. At a push, there’s limited propulsion but it is very limited. I kind of figured if you were wearing it you would be doing the flying yourself.”

“Something to work out for version two?”

“You just like the pants,” Lena chuckled.

“Can’t deny, they feel good. Even the helmet isn’t bad. And don’t for one second you’re getting away with the lipstick mark either young lady.”

“Took you long enough,” Lena laughed.

“Just got a message from NASA. The oxygen depletion from the space station is starting to slow and systems are stabilising,” Eve informed them happily.

Lena was happy to hear the news but at the same time, she was more than a little concerned by the information coming across her datapad about the suit. “Supergirl, you need to keep an eye on your oxygen levels.”

“I am,” Kara huffed as she strained to hold herself in position as she used the heat from her eyes to weld another part in place. “This is trickier than I thought it would be. Taking more time.” Every time she blasted even the smallest amount, the force threatened to pitch her off the side of the space station. If that happened she risked flying off into space or gouging a hole right through the fabric of the station.

“Focus on my breathing,” Lena urged her gently. “Use mine to guide yours.” It worked for both of them as she had to calm herself so she could help Kara before she started to panic. “You’ve got this.”

“… Oh, this is… actually, I’m not sure what the hell this is.”

“What is wrong Director?”

“Put Lena on.”

“I’m here. What’s wrong, Alex?”

“Brainy, put my feed up on screen.”

Lena looked up as the large screen in the control room came to life. She wasn’t sure that using that was the wisest of ideas on his part but what she saw on the screen stole her attention away from pointing that out.

“Oh, well, that’s not good.”

“You can say that again,” Alex grumbled as she turned around, letting the camera pan over the rows of Lexosuits standing around like suits of armour. Each one of them with a house of El crest etched into the fabric of the suit.

“How many are there?”

“By the look of it… up to thirty—”

“There’s twenty-nine!” Maggie called back as she walked down the rows of suits until she came to an ominous space in the display. “There’s a gap here though so I think number thirty is out there somewhere!”

“Alex, sweep back to the right again. There! I need a closer look at those screens on the other side of the room!”

“On it!”

While Alex jogged across the width of the warehouse, Lena turned her full attention back on Kara. “You need to come back now. Your oxygen is getting too low!”

“I’m nearly done, just need to give the station a little push in the right direction before it gets dragged down!”

“… Lena! One of these screens is on.” Leaning closer, Alex tried to keep the camera steady on the blinking screen.

“Danvers! Watch out!”

Alex let out a startled huff as a body slammed into her side, a muscular arm wrapping around her waist as she was pulled to the ground. A resounding crashing sound and the rhythmic thuds around the warehouse stilled her instinctive desire to lash out. Pushing Kate’s cape off her face she just had a chance to look at the suit standing there yanking its arm out of the broken remains of the desk she had been leaning over and the movement taking place around them as the other suits came to life before Kate was yanking her to her feet and urging her to move!

A shot rang out as Maggie took aim at one of the suits advancing on her but the bullet only served to draw the attention of more of them.

“We need to move!”

The datapad in Lena’s hand flashed in warning as Kara’s oxygen went critical. “Kara—!”

Before she could get out another thought let alone a word, the elevator doors behind them exploded outwards sending sparks and chunks of burning metal flying across the room to embed in walls, screens and flesh.

Lena could see the flashes from the muzzles or drawn weapons but with a detached clinical air that she knew was from shock as well as the explosion, Lena noted that she couldn’t hear the sounds of the weapons discharging or anything else.

She picked up the datapad from where it had fallen, the screen was cracked and splintered but through it, she could see that Kara’s stats were dropping fast.

“Kara!”

Lena couldn’t even hear herself crying out but she felt the heavy steps closing in on her and looked up as a monstrous metal form stopped right in front of her. It was grey and ugly, utterly lacking grace, and Lena hated that it had Kara’s symbol upon its hulking chest. She beat at it futile, her fists and feet not even making a dent as it lifted her easily from the ground by her neck until she was level with its head.

It split apart.

The whole suit unfolding from top to bottom enough for it to shove her inside before closing back up around her.

Brainy grabbed for the arm of the suit to try and stop it from walking away but he found himself flying as it lashed out. Sparks rained down as his body crashing through the big screen and in the time it took him to regain his feet… it had left, leaving behind shards of glass as it crashed through the doors that led to the balcony and flew away with Lena Luthor trapped inside.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN - Don't know about anyone else but i feel like i just got run over by that chapter o.O


	19. Chapter 19

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN - I know nothing about the ISS or anything about space and I am too tired right now to research when I'm writing a short (ha!) story about a alien superhero that can fly so time to suspend even more disbelief ;)

With Maggie and Kate hurrying in her wake, Alex ran through the corridors and up what felt like endless flights of stairs of the building she had come to think of as her after J’onn had stepped down and promoted her. Before then it had been her sanctuary, her place of work. Being in charge had made it different. The building, the people she trained and worked with they were hers.

It was just different.

And right then it was hurting.

Beat down by the traitors working from within and attacks from the outside and now…

… This.

Even before they had entered the building, Alex could tell that something was very wrong. Even if she hadn’t believed the nagging feeling that had eaten at her from the moment the evil Lexosuits had inexplicably given up their attack and blasted out of the warehouse she had known. The smoke billowing out from where the balcony windows should have been, visible from miles away as they had raced on their bikes towards the DEO, was simply confirmation.

Inside was worse.

Far worse.

The lights struggled and flickered. Flashes between the white of the overhead lights and the red of the alarms as the generators tried and failed to keep up with the demands of the building and the equipment housed within.

Alex had grabbed the nearest agent as they finished helping move the body of a fallen comrade. The sight of the blood streaming down his face softening her grasp and her tone. He’s had no idea what had happened exactly though, no one did. But from what she could piece together the missing suit; number thirty to go with the other twenty-nine that had kicked their butts… it had been there somewhere. It had flown straight up from one of the lower levels, flying through walls and floors before smashing its way into the elevator shaft. On its way up it had blown out the doors on every level and shot at anyone in sight.

After that, no one knew what had happened when it had reached the top as they hadn’t made it up into the control room and communications were down.

Alex was the Director of the DEO. Everyone within the building was her responsibility. She cared deeply about what happened to every single one of them. But, all she could think about, the one overriding concern on her mind. Was, Kara.

Her name rang through Alex’s head, pounding with every fall of her boots upon the ground and every beat of her heart.

_Kara!_

_Kara!_

_Kara!_

Was her mission over?

Was she alive?

_Kara!_

_Kara!_

Was she on her way home?

Was she somewhere drifting lifelessly in the vacuum of space?

_Kara!_

After years trapped in the pod that had saved her from the destruction of Krypton but had also allowed her to witness it, Alex could think of no worse hell for her sister to be enduring.

She pushed herself harder and faster until every muscle in her body screamed in agony as she forgot all her training. And then she pushed herself harder, fighting through the pain as her muscles started to cramp and sweat poured down her face and coated the inside of her combat suit.

Finally, they reached the top and only one final set of doors that stood between them and the control room.

But they refused to open.

“Whole building has switched over to lockdown protocols,” she explained as she tried to prise off a section of carefully concealed panelling to get to the backup fingerprint scanner and keypad to enter the codes to open the doors. “Damn it!” her short nails slipped uselessly, unable to find purchase.

She jumped more than she would have liked as Kate’s fist suddenly appeared over her shoulder and the tip of one of her batarangs found the gap that her nails couldn’t.

“Got you covered, Alex,” Kate grunted as she levered the panelling open. “This is why lesbians like weapons. We have to compensate for the fact that we’ve got no damn nails.”

“That and knives and swords are cool,” Maggie smiled as she gave Alex’s shoulder a squeeze, letting her know they were both still there for her. “They’ll be okay.” It was an empty promise at best, they both knew it. But she saw Alex cling to it and wrap herself in it as she nodded her thanks.

“No expert on your systems here, Alex. But this doesn’t look good,” Kate growled out at the sight of the lack of flashing lights or anything that would signal that the electronics that would open the door were working.

Alex pressed her thumb to the scanner and pressed the keypad but everything stayed dark and silent.

“What now? Acetylene torches? Explosives? What’s going to get us through that door?”

“After this place was put back together after the Daxamite invasion there’s not a hell of a lot that can get through once the lockdown starts. The whole of the control room is now sealed. The doors are bolted into place. Every wall, the floor, a ceiling is protected by the same material… even the elevator shaft and the balcony will have sealed off once it kicked in.”

_The balcony!_

Alex’s eyes grew wide, her head snapping around to see the exact same expressions on the faces of Kate and Maggie.

“The balcony?”

“There was stuff still coming out of there when we pulled up, right?” Alex looked between them for confirmation.

“Pretty sure there was,” Maggie ran it back through her mind… pulling up, looking up… “Yes.”

“That part of it must have got damaged when the thing left.” Which was something she would have been pissed about normally but right then, Alex felt only relief that there was a glimmer of hope.

“So, has this place got a way up to the roof or do we need to go sequester a helicopter?”

Maggie shook her head as she looked between the two women who were wearing eerily similar looks of anticipation at the thought of taking a leap off the top of the building.

“Why do I always fall for the crazy ones?” she muttered under her breath.

**********

The control room was in utter chaos.

Agents ran around the room in chaotic patterns that threw Brainy’s calculations off almost faster than even his mind could process all the variables. As the current senior ranking agent currently upright and capable of making decisions, he had tried to take charge but his suggestions had been met with looks that stated quite clearly to Brainy that they just saw him as an interloper.

No.

Someone different from them. Someone that their training, as well as the upbringing, had taught them not to trust.

They saw him as an alien.

And even though that was exactly what he was, Brainy couldn’t help but feel a strange ache that someone with a lesser intelligence than his own, might take as being sadness.

He worked with them. Trained with them. Some he had started to think of as friends. But, when they had lost control of the control room, and he could only assume the whole of the DEO, his image inducer had started to fail and he had been forced to shut it down. Once his own visage had been revealed the level of trust in him had waned alarmingly.

J’onn J’onzz and Alex, along with Kara, had made remarkable steps in breaking down the barriers between humans and aliens, and also in the function of the DEO but apparently aliens that looked alien were still an issue with some of the people that worked there.

Brainy knew too that his ‘demeanour’ was often off-putting and viewed as ‘cold’. He was trying to adjust and learn how to integrate by viewing vast numbers of shows with as many pop culture references as possible but even that had its pitfalls.

Kara and Alex, after banning him from watching ‘Breaking Bad’, ‘Dexter’ and several other shows, had already had to explain to him several times why putting a raw turkey on his head at Thanksgiving was not normal and he still wasn’t sure. Surely if his ‘Friends’ did it, _twice_ , then it was acceptable?

Giving a barely perceptible shake of his head, Brainy closed his eyes and took a deep breath to focus himself, his fingertips coming to rest in their usual position as he adjusted his mind, throwing out the clutter so he could get back on track.

They needed to find a way to get the DEO control room back up and the computers running. If the teams continued working as they were there was a ninety-five-point—

The sound of one of the engineers leaving their position to add their weight to the futile attempt to open the door had the numbers dropping alarmingly.

— Sixty-five percent chance they would be able to contact the space station and start tracking where Ms Luthor had been taken. Forty-three percent. Thirty percent.

The numbers dropped as the agents fluctuated what they were doing, their priorities changing as they moved from their assigned tasks to helping injured colleagues that were already stable and trying to get out.

At least they had stopped looking towards the balcony as a possible escape route. Though the glares he had received for refusing to fly them out hadn’t abated. There was no point to it though. There was no one in immediate medical danger and even if he took them out they would have to return immediately to get the control room up and running again. And with the control room being basically an independent system all repairs needed to be undertaken from within the control room.

They were where they needed to be.

Unfortunately, many of them didn’t see it that way.

Eighty-point-one percent. That was the figure currently at the front of his mind. Unfortunately, that was the percent probability that they would fail to complete their current mission of saving both Kara and Lena. And he hadn’t even worked out how the figures would skew depending on what had happened to the Director and her team at the warehouse.

The thud of boots landing on the balcony had Brainy’s heart-lifting momentarily in hope that Supergirl had returned but even before he opened his eyes and turned them to see, he knew that it was not her that had landed.

“Director Danvers!” The sight of them, battered and bruised as they obviously were, was more than welcome as they marched down the stairs into the control room, carrying with them a presence and gravitas that had the agents already present snapping to attention and acting more like trained agents instead of scared children.

“What’s the situation, Brainy?”

“Communications are down completely leaving us effectively blind as to what is happening with the space station and Supergirl, and with no way of knowing where Ms Luthor was taken.”

“Wait—”

“What do you mean, Lena was taken!?” Curling her hand into the front of Brainy’s uniform, Kate pulled him closer until they were almost nose to cowl.

“That really is more intimidating than I thought it would be,” Brainy mused as she hoisted him up until only his toes dragged the ground. “Impressive.”

“Put him down, Kane.”

“I might be able to help. Oh my!” Eve took a step back, the tablet she was holding almost slipping from her hand as all eyes suddenly turned on her.

“Help with what, Eve?”

“Everything!” rushing forward, Eve waved the tablet under their noses. “I’ve nearly got this hooked up so we can communicate with the space station and Supergirl again—”

“How? The walls are lined to stop unauthorised communications.”

“Yes, well, Ms Luthor bypassed that and hooked it up through L-Corp as a backup so we could use the servers there too. That thing crashing through almost took it down completely but it left enough of a backdoor open and I was able to stick a foot in it to stop it closing as it were.”

“Eve! You’re a genius!” Dropping Brainy back so his feet touched the floor once more, Kate grabbed Eve instead and planted a kiss on her forehead. The fact that that move had Maggie’s eyes narrowing didn’t go unnoticed and was definitely a unexpected bonus.

“And,” Eve cleared her throat to get rid of the squeak from being kissed, even if it was only on the forehead, by Batwoman had caused. “I can probably help with the doors too,” she added. “There will be a quick-release mechanism somewhere,” she explained at their incredulous looks. “I spent a summer in High School working at a theme park, I was a bunny.”

“Cool.”

“Okay, right—”

“Point is,” Eve waved a hand, dismissing their confused expressions. “The one thing I learned there is that there is always a quick-release mechanism somewhere. Even if there wasn’t supposed to be they usually work one in for safety reasons. You just have to know where to look.”

“The doors can wait.” Alex gave Eve’s shoulder a gentle squeeze. “See what you can do about the communications first so we can get Supergirl and Lena back home.”

“They’ll be okay, won’t they?”

“I honestly don’t know, Eve. But we’re going to do everything can to make sure they’ve got the best possible chance.”

**********

Lena hated flying. Even before she had been on a helicopter attacked by drones, fallen off her balcony while being chased by her mother’s goons, or trapped on a plane set to dive into the reservoir and poison the water supply by Edge, she had disliked flying intensely and only flew when necessary and with the aid of a stiff drink or two.

During the most disastrous times though, they all had one thing in common. Kara had come to her rescue. And in her arms, even while flying, Lena had never felt anything other than safe.

This time… there was no help coming.

Lena had seen enough as the knockoff Lexosuit has grabbed her to know that Kara was out of reach… maybe even dead. Even if she did come for her, Lena very much feared that there would be nothing of her left to save by the time she got to her.

She could feel them. The insidious way their ‘bodies’ crawled over her own out of sight beneath the suit with the mechanical clicks and clatters, and buzzing of trapped wings that had haunted her dreams for months after she had sacrificed what was left of Jack to save Kara.

Nanobots.

Thousands of them.

Working their way up her body in an attempt to take her over.

Biting back a whimper of fear, Lena tried to move enough to crush them but the suit was too tight for her to get up enough force and she was more than a little afraid that too much contact would just help them to enter her and leave her a puppet at the hands of whoever was controlling them.

“There is no point fighting them, Ms Luthor.”

Lena froze, her mind whirling as she flipped through the Rolodex of her mind to match the tinny voice filling the suit with its owner. “Breen? Beth Breen?” she spat the name out past gritted teeth, grinding them as a screen came to life right before her eyes and she finally saw the puppet master behind the nanobots.

“Not that it isn’t delightful to see you again but, shouldn’t you still be locked up?”

“Early release thanks to friends in high places.”

“Somehow I have the feeling that your ‘friends’ are in a different direction more in keeping with a sewer.”

“Now, is that any way to talk about your mother, Lena?”

Lena froze and only wished she could feel more shock at the revelation that her mother was once again trying to kill her. “I wish I could say that I was more surprised that she was behind this quarterlies assassination attempt.”

“In all fairness, Ms Luthor, she isn’t.”

“Ahh, Benjamin, so nice to see you again too.”

“And you, Ms Luthor. Especially like this. Do you like what Beth was able to do with the designs for the Lexosuit your mother provided?”

“Can’t say that I’m a fan,” Lena drawled out. “The control system leaves a lot to be desired.”

“Don’t worry, you will be given full access just as soon as the nanobots become integrated with your mind. If you look to your left,” he smirked as Lena cussed as he had Beth force the suit Lena was a passenger in to hover in place and turn the helmet to force her to look where he wanted. “There you can see what happens when the necessary human component becomes one with the suit.”

Lena swallowed hard, fighting down the waves of nausea as she took in everything she could and pieced it together.

The suits were snatching people off the street as they had her, locking them inside. She watched as one did just that and almost instantly started juddering.

“They don’t hold out for long. Oh, they might try. But the nanobots take them over eventually and then…”

The juddering suit righted itself and started blasting at the very people its captive occupant had been walking with moments before.

“That will be you soon enough.”

“You won’t get away with this!”

“I already have,” he gloated. “Right now the news reports are going out that Lexosuits are attacking civilians. And with your mother and Lex behind bars, who do you think the blame will fall upon, once you are defeated and your body is found? Just another power hungry Luthor out to destroy everything!”

“Supergirl—”

“If your pet Kryptonian turns up we’ve got a surprise waiting for her too! I wonder what the good people of National City would make of another attack by her under the influence of red Kryptonite?”

“No!” Lena thrashed about, straining against the confines of the suit as Lockwood held up a gun similar to the one that had had metal growing in her arm and loaded it with ammunition that pulsed and glowed with a red energy she had seen often while destroying Lex’s stash at the mansion.

“Don’t worry though, once she has had some fun, I’ll administer the cure,” he grinned.

Lena screamed in anger as he laughed, his face lit by the twin glow of the red and green Kryptonite he held up.

**********

Mind and body… Kara drifted.

Her mind and body drifting in a weightless spiral.

The Earth was strung out below her like a perfect jewel until her momentum shifted and the vastness of space lay before her in all its inky darkness.

Kara loved the night and the stars but surrounded with it like that it had her breathing growing ragged in her own ears, using up the dwindling supplies of the oxygen she could ill afford to waste.

The space station swung into view but Kara couldn’t remember feeling the shift of her body. It was there though and, thank Rao, it was still intact. Which was more than could be said for her suit. Something had peeled off the outside of the space station and hit her hard enough that all the functions had gone offline... she couldn’t even fire off the yellow sun emitters built into it to get a much-needed boost to her powers to counteract the solar flare.

Rao, Lena was going to be so mad at her for breaking her suit!

But at least the space station and all aboard were safe.

Her eyes drifted shut for a moment…

…only for a moment.

Something tugged at her, pulling snuggly around her waist.

Blinking open her eyes, Kara groggily took in the sight of a huge helmet and a clumsy looking space suited figure bizarrely giving her a thumbs up gesture.

Her eyes drifted shut again and again. Everything coming to her in flashes as her eyes dragged open and shut as she was pulled away from the jewel in space she called home and further towards the darkness that was creeping around the edges of her vision and sitting on her chest like a hundred elephants to make each breath a painful struggle that urged her to give in and sleep…

…

…

…Hands fumbled around her…

…

…Voices calling from a distance…

…

…Light shining at her…

…

Dragged from the edge of unconsciousness, Kara focussed on what was around her and with the last reserves of energy she reached up, fingers fumbling and scrabbling along the edge of her helmet before finally she managed to release it and pulled it off.

Air rushed into her lungs, burning almost as much as the lack of oxygen had. She struggled as a mask was placed over her mouth and nose but the woman holding it was persistent, holding it in place and talking softly until Kara managed to calm herself enough to follow her instructions.

“Thank you.”

“You saved our lives, Supergirl. It’s us that should be thanking you. Are you okay? We didn’t think we would be able to suit up in time to get to you. Easy…”

Kara steadied herself as she rose into what just about passed for a sitting position with no gravity to hold her down.

“My coms are down. I need to get in touch with— with my people,” Kara looked at the astronauts gathered around her hopefully but the looks on their faces stripped away her hope

“I’m afraid that what hit you was part of our communication system. Mikhail and Frank are working on the repairs now but for the moment there is no way for us to get a message out.”

“On the slightly positive side, the nudge to our orbit is giving us an amazing TV signal.”

“Jade!”

“Gawd, I don’t mean it because we’ll finally be able to catch up on Ru Paul’s Drag Race! Though, for the record, we will. But! It’s also giving the news channels which is why I said it was only slightly positive ‘cause now we can see the shitstorm going on down there.” Wincing regretfully, Jade pointed to the monitor showing, according to the scrolling text across the bottom of the screen, video from somewhere on the streets of National City of a Lexosuit blasting at crowds of people running for their lives.

Kara’s who body clenched in anger and frustration at what she was seeing playing out on the screen. “I need to get back down there!” she ground out past her clenched jaw.

She wasn’t sure how with her suit not working but she knew she had to try.

“Supergirl! We’re getting a message for you!”

Kara quickly followed the woman, the commander she belatedly realised, copying her motion and the way she glided through the space station with the minimal amount of motion so as to avoid spinning out of control.

“Everything back up, Frank?”

“Patchy,” he grunted in frustration as he worked to clear up the signal, “There,” he huffed in satisfaction, “that should stop it fading out so much.” Snatching up a coms unit he quickly slipped it into place.

“…pergirl!”

“Alex!”

“Oh, thank god! Are you okay?”

“I solar flared pretty bad, Alex. Luckily they managed to get me in before my oxygen ran out. Could you ask Lena if there’s a way to get the yellow sun emitters working? No offence to the good people up here but I’m looking forward to getting back and taking care of business. Hey, we’ve got a news channel on and saw the Lexosuits… What’s going on down there?”

“You probably know more than we do right now. The DEO was attacked and we’re stuck in the control room on lockdown so we’re pretty much blind right now. We’re only able to talk to you ‘cause Eve sneaked a way around all the protocols.”

“Eve did?” Kara stiffened, her mind working overtime as she recognised a tone in Alex’s voice. “Where’s Lena?” Kara ran a hand over the back of her neck in frustration. “So help me, Alex, you better not have arrested her because of those—”

“They took her,” Alex sighed. “One of the suits. It snatched her right out of the control room and flew off with her. As soon as we get out of here I swear to you we’ll find her and get her out. You just need to rest up and wait until your flare is over.”

“I need to get back down!”

“You can’t, not while flared. Without your powers, you’ll burn up and never make it. Let us do our job. We’ll get her back.”

As the coms fell silent, Kara slowly floated back to where her helmet was. She stared dejectedly at the visor, her fingers finding the faint smudge of lipstick that still lingered upon it.

She knew that Alex was right.

She knew how vulnerable she was without her powers.

But it was a bitter pill to swallow when the woman she loved and the city she called home were in danger.


	20. Chapter 20

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN 1 - I hate writing action.  
> AN 2 - Colds suck when trying to think about writing anything be especially when mapping out action scenes -_-

As the knockoff Lexosuit bore Lena across the city, Lena tried desperately to focus on what she needed to, rather than the suffering she was being forced to witness being caused all around her by the other twenty-nine of them. Her first exercise in trying to gain control after she had apparently been left alone with her own thoughts by Breen and Lockwood, had been to try and exert enough will and brute strength to turn the head of the suit enough so she could look around and get a full count of what she was up against. In the end, she had managed it.

Or she had been _allowed_ to manage it.

Lena wasn't entirely sure which it was, but she was going to take any win she could right then to keep herself hoping and fighting.

Kara was always encouraging to see herself as something other than just a Luthor but right then she needed to cling to that stubborn Luthor streak.

Lena couldn't deny the other reason that had been on her mind when she had looked around, and that was in the hope that she would see Kara streaking across the sky to save her. Or Kate, Maggie and Alex on their way. Anything to prove that she wasn’t alone. With everything that had been happening up at the space station and on the ground at the DEO and the warehouse though, she couldn’t help but feel and assume that alone was exactly what she was.

A mournful whimper filled the helmet at the thought of Kara and she had to fight against her ingrained instincts as a scientist to run through everything she knew about the effects of space on a body and the odds of Kara even being alive right then. It would have been a soul-destroying excise normally but with it being Kara it ripped at her harder and threatened to crush her heart and soul to the point that she gave up.

_Luthor ruthlessness. Luthor ruthlessness! You’re a genius! A chess master! Focus on what you need to do and get ahead of the game!_

Jaw clenching, her resolve strengthened, Lena pushed aside all her emotions, locking them up in tiny boxes and pushing them aside to be dealt with later… or never… and ran through all the plans in her head she had amassed from taking apart the Lexosuit that Lillian had built upon for herself and compared it to the one she was trapped within.

This one bore more of a crude resemblance to the one her brother had used. And Lena was ashamed to admit that she knew that one all too well as it was another thing she had designed that he had stolen and misused.

The one she had created on paper had been an advanced form of protection for rescue services, mostly for firefighters, but the rapid decline of her brother’s mental state had reached the point where Lena had looked at everything with rose-tinted glasses removed and crushed beneath her heel and all she could see was how it would be taken away and turned into a weapon by him and even by the Government.

And when it came to Lex, she had been right to fear what he would do as he had stolen her plans after she had _thought_ she had destroyed all of them enough. If there was to be a bright point in it, it was that she hadn’t had to listen to Lex sneering that she should make it in pink. And that she had never perfected the plans to her usual standard once she had seen the pitfalls.

Even the suit that Lillian had ‘improved’ still held some of the same original design flaws. And Lena hoped that this one did too.

**********

Maggie felt jittery inside as she stood quietly out of the way of busting agents, her body eager for action instead of just standing around feeling useless. Kate had managed to find something to do easily enough and was currently huddled over a console helping to get everything back online. Maggie’s expertise didn’t exactly run to that side of things though.

She had suggested that now that Eve had managed to spring the doors open, she should just leave and help out on the streets or help round up a couple of the ‘detainees’ that had escaped the holding area in the bowels of the building but an almost panicked look had crossed Alex’s face as she had asked her to stay there because…

_“I need people around me I can trust, Sawyer.”_

_“You’ve got people, Alex. Lots of people. I’m better out there doing something.”_

_“Not ones I trust with Kara’s life on the line or Lena’s. Please, Maggie. Whatever we’re up against, I want you at my side. For Kara and Lena?”_

_“Okay.”_

_“Yeah?”_

_“Yes. Now buck up, Danvers. Time to save our girls.”_

Which had been easier said than done and as the minutes had passed, Maggie had started to feel useless again and seeing the same frustration on Alex’s face wasn’t helping. Marching across the room, Maggie took her ex-fiancée by the hand and drew her after her.

“You need to quit glowering at them, Danvers.”

“I can’t help it,” Alex sighed. “I don’t know how he did it, just stood there and let us get on with everything, but I think I need to get J’onn to teach me some meditation techniques.”

“You doubting your skills?” Maggie could tell that she had struck a telling blow when Alex stiffened defensively and then sagged a moment later. “Hey, I didn’t know J’onn all that well but from what you and Kara told me, he had spent a lot of time shaping this place into a more alien friendly and inclusive organisation and he would not have just left without knowing it was in safe hands. And for that, he trusted _you_.”

“I know,” Alex sighed. “I do. But sometimes I feel like I’m barely keeping my head above water. I had all these things I wanted to do—”

“Children?” Maggie guessed as Alex’s voice faded away and she looked away sheepishly. “I still can’t see children in my future. Not after the number my parents did on me growing up. But I know you, Al and you’ll work it out. You’ll have the job. The children. A wife to share it all with. You’ll find a way to do it and you’ll be amazing.”

“I wish I could have had all that with you,” Alex whispered quietly. She stepped closer, drawn to the familiarity and warmth of the woman she had loved… the woman she still loved. Her heart quickened as Maggie leaned closer, their breaths mingling, foreheads nearly touching.

But then Maggie drew away, a soft, regretful smile on her lips as she put a bit of distance between them before they got lost in the heat of the moment and old memories.

“I know. We should have talked sooner but at least we found out before we went ahead and got married. Losing you hurt but it would have hurt more if we had stayed together and ended up compromising and resenting each other for it.”

“Are- are you okay, Maggie?”

“Yeah.” Maggie smiled, realising for the first time since she had said goodbye to Alex and left National City that she was okay. All the disappointment, all the resentment and anger she had felt, especially after Alex had drunk called her and told her about Sara, it was finally gone and she felt like she was at peace and could move on with her life. And a quick glance across the room and into Kate’s intense gaze, Maggie knew just who she might want to start moving on with. “I think I am.”

“I’m— What the hell is going on now!?” Alex barked out as every one of the screens that Brainy and the others had worked so hard to get back up and running and had been showing every available news channel from around National City, suddenly burst white with static an suddenly went black. “Agent Dox! What just happened?”

“I am not accustomed to saying this but… I have no idea,” Brainy glowered in confusion at the nearest bank of screens while his fingers flew over the datapad in his hands. “According to these readings, they should be working just fine. Ms Teschmacher?”

“I’m getting the—” Eve leaned closer to the screens and let out a startled scream as a pair of green eyes suddenly filled it. She jumped back in fright so sharply her heels slipped out from under her and she was only saved from hitting the floor by a timely grab from Brainy.

“Ms Luthor!?” Eve would have recognised those green eyes anywhere… though she had never expected to see them quite so up-close and personal.

“Eve, I am going to start docking your pay if you don’t start calling me Lena, especially when we’re trying to save lives.”

Alex strode determinedly closer to Eve and the screen she was looking at. She had no way of knowing if Lena could see them at all but the giant eyes around the room were too disconcerting to look at and… frankly, she was worried by the strain she could hear laced through Lena’s voice and she could tell by the expressions on Maggie and Kate’s faces as they joined her that they’d picked up on it too.

“Hey, Lee. Any chance we could see more of you than just your eyes? Not that they aren’t pretty but it’s kind of giving off an evil genius vibe,” Kate teased her gently.

“Is that better?”

The screens zoomed out and it was and it wasn’t better all at the same time. Yes, they could see all of her face. But they could also see that Lena had been doing a remarkable job at hiding a lot of the stress and strain through her voice that was written clearly in the deep lines etched across her forehead that ran with sweat and around her eyes and mouth.

“Yeah, that looks much better, kid.”

“One, Ms Kane, ‘kid’? You’re not that much older than I am. And two, you’re a terrible liar,” Lena chuckled weakly.

“What’s going on out there?”

“Where’s Ka— Supergirl? Is she okay?”

A hand gently touching her wrist prevented Kate from barking back in frustration as Lena thought about someone else as usual. Teeth gritted in frustration, she gestured to Alex to answer and let Maggie’s touch ground her.

“She’s okay, Lena. Trapped on the station at the moment ‘cause her powers flared, but she’s safe and we’re working out how to get her back.”

“Good,” Lena sighed in relief.

“Now, quit dodging… what’s going on? How do we get you out of there?”

“A little scheme by Lockwood and Beth Breen.”

“Breen? I thought she was still locked up?!”

“Should be. Isn’t. I don’t know how complicit she is on all this but they got help from Lillian. Hence the suits.”

“Agent Dox, get the word out and make sure Lillian Luthor is still locked up and get her in solitary, no one in or out… Lex too. Now, how do we—”

“Listen to me, Alex… you need to shoot these things out of the sky. I just sent you a file with the suits weak spots but you’re going to have to use maximum force.”

“Lena, they snatched people—”

“People that no longer exist,” Lena cut her off. “There are nanobots in the suits, Alex. The people they snatched off the streets are just a conduit to control the suits and once they get that… well, you remember Jack.”

“Lena—” Alex’s eyes widened in dawning horror as she saw the slow creeping wave of black edging up along Lena’s neck. “You need to fly that thing over here right now!”

“I’m not in control of this, Alex. I’m talking to you only because I know the weaknesses of the suit. Fighting them off… I can’t manage that. The only thing that will stop them is finding the controller and I haven’t got that much time left. They want to use me to kill and prove that I’m just a Luthor and then they plan on using Kryptonite on Supergirl and destroying her and her reputation. I don’t care about myself, Alex but I refuse to let them hurt her.”

“What are you plotting, Lena?”

“If I stop fighting and let the nanobots take me I’ll have a small window of opportunity where I’ll be in full control of this thing and I can take them on.”

“Lena—”

“Listen to me, Alex! Once they get me you’ve got to promise that you will do whatever it takes to destroy this thing.”

“I’m not going to kill you—”

“I’ll already be dead. Just use the information I’ve sent and take this down. Don’t let it hurt anyone else. Please?”

**********

“No!” Kara barely restrained herself from putting her fists through the screen and the tearing the space station apart as the screen went black. “Get them back!”

“I’m trying, Supergirl,” Frank assured the obviously frustrated alien. “I don’t even know why we got that but right now, everything is down again.”

Kara propelled herself back through the station, blind as to where she was going until she found herself back at the airlock where they had brought her in. She picked up the helmet once more and put it on.

“You can’t go out there! Your suit won’t stand up to it! _You_ , won’t stand up to it.”

“I have to try something,” Kara whispered brokenly. She could still remember the feel of it when the nanobots had threatened to consume her body and mind. The feel of them covering her had faded into an almost pleasant memory compared to the agony as they had tried to take over her mind until Lena had sacrificed Jack to save her.

“You love her.” Jade held out her hands, a soft smile on her face as Supergirl lifted her head and apprised her with brilliant blue eyes. “A Super and a Luther… It’s right out of a fairy-tale.”

“She’s amazing,” Kara smiled brokenly. “Knew there was something special about her from the moment we spoke and well… you’ve seen how she looks too.”

“Oh, yes.”

“She’s so funny and smart but it’s her heart that I love the most though. She always gives so much of herself, trying to do the best she can for everyone even when everyone doubts her motives… even when I doubted her,” she sighed. “I can’t just sit up here while she’s down there doing what she always does… saving everyone. If I could just get the yellow sun emitters to work again…”

“Have you tried rebooting it?”

“What?”

“You’ve never noticed with technology, the first thing they say when you call up customers services it’s ‘have you tried turning it off and back on again?’”

“To be fair, most of the things that don’t work for me it’s because I’ve crushed them by mistake.”

“Ahh, well, they do. Even on this overpriced rust-bucket, anything that goes wrong we get a tired NASA engineer sighing at us going, ‘have you tried turning it off and back on?’ Of course, they never stop to think about how terrifying it is to turn anything off up here when you can’t just pop out for a new fuse,” she grumbled. “Anyway, might be worth a shot?”

Standing up as best as she could, Kara bit her lip and nervously went through the procedures that Lena had shown her to turn the suit off. For a moment she was sure she had got it wrong and then it slowly started to peel back into itself, the brightly coloured armour turning black as it moved faster and faster until the device floated before her.

“Okay! Wow!” Jade breathed in wonderment. “That was something.”

“Lena does have a flair for the dramatic sometimes,” Kara smiled as she plucked it out of the air. “Okay…”

“Well, come on. Let’s see if my limited engineering skills work on super-suits.”

Kara couldn’t help but hold her breath as she placed it against her chest. Even though Lena wasn’t there, she could almost feel the weight of her hand settled over hers as she pressed the buttons and, with eyes closed, she could almost see Lena’s green eyes shining and she watched her expectantly.

“Holy shit! That is even more amazing that way!”

Cracking open her eyes, Kara almost did a zero-G backflip in joy at the sight of all the displays and widgets lit up before her eyes. She didn’t even have to try and remember how to work the emitters as a sudden burst of energy washed over her and shot through her before her brain had time to register it flashing up a warning that her energy was low and it used them for her automatically.

“Wow,” Jade breathed out, floating backwards and spinning upside-down before she could think to control herself. She had thought that the technology of the suit had been amazing but the glow that had emanated from Supergirl right down to the tips of her golden hair had to be the most beautiful thing she had seen. “Ya know, if they ever decide to do a live action version of She-Ra, you should audition, they could save a shitload on CG effects.”

“Thanks… I think?”

“Ignore our Jade, she is a brilliant idiot at times.”

“Love you too, Mikhail,” Jade stuck her tongue out impishly at him.

“Have you managed to get through with the DEO?” Kara asked hopefully as the others floated in to join them.

“Unfortunately not. We are able to get through with mission control and they are working to try and patch us through for you but they don’t know how long it will take as they lost communication with them too.”

“They’re being blocked?”

“It could well be,” Mikhail admitted. “The level of failure is… troubling.”

“What our friend is unusually tiptoeing around is that NASA thinks that someone is blocking all communication or some even more very serious, catastrophic kind of shit other than what we’ve seen on the news has gone down.”

“Or is going down,” Mikhail’s brow furrowed into a deep frown as she gestured towards the news playing out on the screens.

**********

“Damn them!”

Lena cursed violently, trying to re-orientate herself as whoever or whatever had control of her suit struggled to gain control as a missile roared passed so close she could almost read the small print of the safety instructions.

She guessed that it wouldn’t do to lose the ‘villain’ of the piece before Agent Liberty had had a chance to make himself out to be the hero.

Two of the suits suddenly rushed passed the other way, buffeting her once more as they made a beeline for the helicopter that had fired the missile. Despite the heavy calibre weapons firing at them almost point-blank, the suits tore at the helicopter, peeling back the metal as though it was made of wet tissue paper.

One of the suits took a blow to the helmet that had it spiralling out of control, crashing into and through office buildings before finally creating a sizeable crater in the road below. And the sense of victory was muted because someone had died in it and then it was ripped away completely as the suit expelled the remains of its first victim and claimed another as some poor fool got to close trying to take a selfie with it.

Within seconds it was back in the air and aiding the other suit in dismantling the rest of the ailing helicopter until it spun away, thick, black smoke pouring from its engine before it crashed into the street beneath her, sending up a blistering ball of flames that threatened to peel the paintwork of Lena’s suit as it enveloped her.

There was so much going on around her, too much, and it took everything within Lena to keep fighting and to not lose hope. She wasn’t entirely certain that whatever she did was making any difference or if the slowness of the nanobots was down to some design malfunction. After all, Breen was management, not an engineer and wasn’t qualified in either enough to be worthy of kissing the ground poor, sweet Jack had walked upon.

Lena was dragged out of her thoughts by the sight of another of the suits falling from the sky. As with the other, it created another crater in National City’s much-abused streets. And, as with the other, she saw as it spilt forth the remains of its victim and went in search of more organic material to use.

Pain shot through the base of Lena’s skull, sending her vision white. But as it cleared she realised that she had managed to raise her hands on her own. That she could, was the opposite of good in all ways as it meant that the nanobots were winning and her time was almost up.

**********

Twisting back on the throttle, Alex hunkered down over the tank of her powerful bike in an attempt to become even more streamlined as she raced towards the downed suit. Drawing her gun she aimed with practised ease even as her bike took off over a ramp of rubble and fired over and over again into the misshapen lump of metal that was inching its way towards a child that had somehow escaped his parents and found himself right in the middle of danger.

Laying her bike down, Alex used her momentum and training, scooping up the small boy and placing herself between him and the monster as her bike rammed into it at full force. Her leg buckled as she tried to rise but Alex simply tried to ignore the spike of metal sticking out of her thigh that she had collected on the way in favour of getting away from the metallic groaning and shrieking that told her that somehow the suit was still on the move.

Alex’s heart stilled as another suit flew down the street towards them but, instead of stopping, it flew over so close that she could have touched it… too close for it not to have seen them.

Her eyes followed it. Widening as it ploughed into the misshapen mass of the other suit and tossed it back. The others lacked elegance and heart… this one dodged a wild blow instead of taking it as the others had and pinpointed its attacks as it buried its fist into the body of the other and fired until the suit collapsed and remained still.

Alex handed the boy over to his parents and hobbled as fast as she could towards the suit.

“Lena?”

“I can’t— can’t hold on much longer.”

The strain in Lena’s voice, even muffled as it was by the helmet, was heart-breaking and forced Alex to blink back tears as she quickly rummaged around in her belt to grab a tracker to slap onto the chest plate of Lena’s suit.

“So we know—”

“Accessing records—”

“Lee—” Alex tightened her grip on the slick material of the suit as Lena started to take off. She wasn’t sure how much of Lena was left… every word sounded more mechanical and lacking emotion than the one before.

“Director Danvers.”

Alex cursed as she was forced to release her hold and watch Lena flying away.

“Director—”

“What is it Brainy?”

“Another file just came in from Ms Luthor.”

“What’s in it?”

“Plans, videos, lists of everyone that is a member or has contributed in anyway… It’s everything we need to take down the whole of the Children of Liberty.”

“What about—”

“Way ahead of you Director. There are also lists of properties in and around National City. Ms Teschmacher is helping to cross-reference them right now.”

“Focus on abandoned warehouses.” Alex allowed herself a small smile as he sighed heavily in her ear.

“So cliché.”

“Yep, usually is,” she agreed as Kate and Maggie weaved their way through abandoned cars and rubble towards her on their bikes followed at a slower rate by a couple of blacked out SUV’s. “I managed to get a tracker on Lena. See if you can get a fix on her. Somehow I get the feeling she’s heading right towards Lockwood anyway. Oh, and see if you can get those idiots in the copters to back off. When the suits go down they just grab someone new if they’re not stopped so they’re just making things worse.”

“I will do my best Director.”

Alex stepped back as all the vehicles came to a halt in a shower of dirt and rubble kicked up by their tyres.

“Nearly lost track of you there for a moment, Danvers!” Kate winced as she caught sight of the piece of metal protruding out of Alex’s leg. “Is that part of your bike?”

“Hmm, could be,” Alex shrugged. “If it is it’s probably the biggest piece of it left. Team one, spread out and move to a secure location as high up as you can but stay covered!” she barked out as agents alighted from the vehicles and took up position with their eyes trained on the sky. “Don’t take on the suits unless you’re sure of a kill shot or they just go down and grab someone else! The rest of you, clear the area of civilians so there’s no one on the streets for them to grab! Sawyer, Batwoman, you’re with me!”

“Which better include a trip to the nearest medic,” Kate ordered as Alex tried to take a step only for her leg to buckle out from under her.

“No time—”

“Make time! I’m not having you risking Mag— everyone’s lives because you can’t take a minute to get that looked at,” Kate hissed.

It hurt. The reminder that Maggie wasn’t hers to protect any more. Not that the fierce woman had ever needed anyone’s protection but Alex nodded and let one of her team start poking at the piece of metal. She used the pain caused by the prodding and the removal of it to hide the ache in her heart.

“I put a tracker on Lena.”

“How was she doing?”

“She was in almost full control of the suit.”

“Shit!” Kate bit out in frustration.

“I wanted to say that was good but it really isn’t, is it?” Maggie sighed.

“No, not good at all. I don’t know what we can do to help her but we need to find her so we can try or…” Alex tightened her jaw as several boxes were unloaded and opened, revealing alien weapons within. Each one smaller than a rocket launcher but packing the punch of five Earth made ones.

“You could really do it? Just shoot her down and kill her?”

“Even though I know she’ll be long dead before I pull the trigger I don’t want to, but yeah,” Alex straightened her shoulders with more determination than she was feeling. “If I have to I’ll do what she asked. Hopefully, if we can find her in time it won’t come to that though.”

“Well if it’s any help, it looks like the action is coming to us. Move!” Grabbing Kate by her cape and Alex by her shoulder, Maggie yanked them out of the way as what felt like an endless stream of suits rocketed up the street, taking out one of the SUV’s and a couple of the agents along the way.

They watched as they streamed over their heads and converged on another that was doing battle with Agent Liberty high above them.


	21. Chapter 21

Even with her powers back at full strength, Kara felt the burning friction through the suit and the tugging against her cape where it streamed out from her shoulders as she pushed through the atmosphere. Though her communication was still only working one way, she could hear the progress of the battle being picked up and relayed to her from the DEO.

Growing up with Alex, Kara had struggled sometimes to get a hang of what her new sister was thinking or feeling as they had both struggled to acclimatise to their new lives at a time when teenage hormones were running rampant. It was only since Kara had stepped out of the closet and come out as Supergirl… and Alex had stepped out of another and come out as being a lesbian… and they had started working together that they had started to become more open with each other about all parts of their lives and finally seen each other as sisters and not just because they were told to.

It was because of that newer closeness and understanding that, despite the electronic distortion of the radio and the fact that Alex was using her tough-as-nails ‘agent’ voice, Kara was able to hear the edge of Alex’s voice that told her that the situation was getting out of hand more than her actual words did.

And as a large part of that ‘situation’ was the woman that she loved, Kara pushed herself harder and faster than she ever had before, and in blatant defiance of the squawks and beeps of protest that the suit Lena had made for her made at being, according to the suit at least, too rough for her own body to handle.

Muscles straining, Kara burst through a thick layer of cloud. Far below, she could see the sprawl of buildings that made up National City growing closer but it was to an even smaller cluster of figures that her eyes and ears focussed upon.

The rapid, straining thud of Lena’s heart pulled her closer and told her which of the all too uniform Lexosuits contained her love even before she made out the ferocious ballet of the battle taking place and saw which one was under attack.

A particularly hard blow slammed into Lena’s armoured back, sending her spiralling out of control and had Kara gritting her teeth and clenching her fists as she willed herself to go even faster as the circling Lexosuits moved closer and closer looking for an opening to strike.

**********

“You are proving to be _very_ troublesome, Ms Luthor!”

“Blame the Luthor genes… We never know when to quit!” Lena snarked back at Lockwood’s frustrated growl. Though as an armoured fist dented the protection over her kidneys, Lena knew a stubborn streak a mile-wide was only going to get her so far in this fight when as well as the Lexosuits and Liberty, she was also fighting desperately to stave off the effects of the nanobots.

She could feel them almost covering every inch of her body as well as feel the insidious way they were creeping into the corners of her mind, bringing with them a darkness that had Lena feeling as though she was looking at the world through a dark tunnel. They were winning and when they did, there would be nothing more she could do to derail his plans.

“I’ll have to have a word with Breen about the quality of her work. You should have been out there, destroying lives and the city for all to see by now!”

“Glad I could be a disappointment to you!”

“No, this will work out for the best,” he chuckled darkly. “One thing I’ve learned over the years is how to put a spin on things. We’ll battle… maybe you will battle the super-powered, goodie two shoes… In the end, I will rise triumphantly and save the day!”

“You might have been able to wrap some people up with pretty words Benjamin,” Lena grunted as he and the suits took turns getting their shots in while preventing her from getting away when she made a half-hearted attempt. “But your plans leave a lot to be desired and you’re boring me! I’m so terribly sorry than I can ever express about the loss of your wife and all the other people whose lives my brother destroyed in his insanity but that does not excuse all that you have done since then!”

“See, you scoff at the power of words but, you want to know a secret?” Lunging forward as she sluggishly dodged an attack from the side, he grabbed the front of her suit and leaned into her until the sides of their helmets touched almost in a caress. “I was going to kill the bitch anyway,” he whispered sibilantly.

“…kill her…”

“…I was going to kill her…”

“…anyway…”

“…kill her…”

“…anyway…”

He jerked around as his words seemed to echo back at him in a damning wave from all around the city.

“What?”

“I know these suits inside and out, Mr Lockwood. And as I’m dying I thought it would be nice if everyone got to hear you confess a few things while you were feeling chatty.”

Benjamin let out a guttural roar of fury as he finally saw his face lit up on every working giant screen throughout the city and projected on every side of the towering structures of L-Corp and CatCo.

“I am going to take great pleasure on seeing what Kryptonite does to a _human_ body.” Spinning back around, he raised the weapon loaded with the green Kryptonite and aimed it at her as the suits converged on her and held her steady

“Try to stay with us a bit longer, bitch,” he snarled as she started twitching and flopping around, inhuman sounds coming from her as the nanobots did their job at the most inconvenient moment. “I would so hate for you to miss this,” he taunted as he started to pull the trigger.

Lena winced as a thunderous cracking boom sounding out. But, instead of feeling the Kryptonite projectile cutting through the armour and her body, which she shouldn’t have even really been expecting as she knew what the weapon sounded like from her last painful run-in with it, there was a flash of blue and red filling her vision from above and strong arms wrapped around her as they careered down towards the ground with such speed and force that the suit, as strong as it was, felt like it was going to peel from her body.

Over Kara’s shoulder, Lena caught a glimpse of explosions haloing Kara’s body as some of the lexosuits that hadn’t been tossed aside by the force of their passing, careered into each other with devastating results. Even though they had been dead almost from the moment the suits had stuffed them inside and the nanobots had set to work, Lena mourned the loss of the people trapped within. Unfortunately, Lockwood wasn’t one of the ones caught up in the explosions as she saw the unique colour of his suit as he raced away unwilling to face an enraged Supergirl.

The darkness through her mind and across her vision caused by the nanobots had her reaching up without even knowing it and she watched as her gloved fingers caressed over the lines of the helmet she had created to protect Kara and the last lingering traces of lipstick that had managed to survive the journey through the atmosphere.

 _I should get Jess to send the manufacturer a letter._ She mused, her mind drifting.

“Lena!” Kara held her closer, tears stinging her eyes as Lena’s head lolled back and forth, her body shaking within her arms as seizures wracked her body. The last time she had carried Lena so, it had been after she had been poisoned. She had been so distraught that she had carried her across the city to the DEO without even taking the fraction of a second it would have taken to change into her suit.

The only thing that had been on her mind that day was getting Lena to her sister. And once more that was all she could think of.

Kara honed in on Alex’s heartbeat, using it to guide her to the street below. She landed with a thud at her sister’s side, not caring that she was adding to the number of repairs needed on the road.

“Alex!”

“Kara!” The anguish in Kara’s voice and written her every line of her face as she removed her helmet, stilled Alex’s instinctive need to pull her sister into a hug and make sure she was okay.

“Help her!”

“Too… late,” Lena whispered brokenly, forcing the words passed her rapidly fading control. She grabbed Alex’s wrist as she helped Kara to lower her and had to force the suit not to crush her bones and grind them to a pulp as the nanobots tried to force her to carry out their programmed mission to destroy. “You… promised.”

“No. There’s got to be another way…”

“There isn’t… too weak… do it… Can’t fight…”

“Alex?” Kara stared on in horror as Alex’s eyes turned to take in the crate of heavy weapons near the one SUV that was still intact. That she looked was bad enough but it was the resignation in her eyes that chilled Kara right down to her soul. “No!” shaking her head, Kara grabbed her sister’s arm as she moved to stand up. “Don’t you dare even think of it!”

“Kara,” Lena gently stroked her fingers across the unyielding, tense line of Kara’s jaw. “Please, I won’t end up like Jack.”

Kara fixed Alex with a glare, releasing her hold only once she gets an understanding nod from her. Gently cradling Lena’s hand, she pressed it closer to her face and fixed her with a look that she hopes conveyed just how determined she was.

“Lena, I didn’t just throw myself out of the space station and through the atmosphere to save you and have you just give up. I think I might have broken your suit a little too so you’ve got to stick around to tell me off for that and make me a new one,” she teased. “What are you— No! You keep fighting, Lena!” she screamed out as Lena’s body suddenly bowed up sharply, her arms and legs flailing to punch holes in the ground beneath her. A sudden swipe of her arm caught Alex unprepared and hurler her aside like a ragdoll before even Kara could react.

Groaning, Alex pushed herself upright and leaned back against the side of the SUV while she tried to catch her breath. She looked down as her hand fell upon the crate of weapons and wondered if Lena hadn’t known exactly where she would land.

Pushing herself upright, she reached down for one and readied it.

“Supergirl. Move out of the way.”

“No, Alex! You don’t have to do this! She’s still in there! There’s still hope!”

“Look at her. I’m sorry but it’s too late. I promised her.”

“No!” Kara’s eyes burned with fury and anguish that she released in a warning blast of her heat vision that scored a furrow in the ground inches from Alex’s feet. “Lena,” whispering her name over and over, Kara worked on the helmet covering her face. Prising the tips of her fingers into the seal, she squeezed carefully, feeling it pop and give and finally release so she could remove it.

Her face was rendered a featureless black mask by the skittering bodies of the nanobots covering her. Kara remembered all too clearly what it felt like to have them covering her. She knew the pain they caused as well as the almost peacefulness that tried to invade when they took over.

“Lee?”

Wiping her fingers over Lena’s face, Kara tried to brush them aside but there were too many of them and they scuttled back to their task with a single-minded determination.

“Lee?” Seeing Lena’s eye flicking open, Kara smiled softly and tried to fight back the tears as Lena focussed her gaze upon her. “I’m not letting you go.”

“You… have to… Don’t want to hurt anyone when… gone.”

“Hey, you’re not going anywhere,” Kara fired back with soft determination.

Kara plucked one of the nanobots off of Lena’s face and crushed it between her fingers. It was tough but they weren’t invulnerable but there were too many to crush in the time Lena had left.

Heat vision was too much of a focussed beam and was more likely to kill Lena before it made a dent in their numbers.

A sonic weapon might work but would take time to get her to the DEO and find the right frequency to kill them and not harm Lena.

It came back to her then. When Lena had been poisoned. She had used her freeze breath to lower her temperature to buy Alex enough time to get the antidote into Lena. And electronics didn’t like extremes in temperature. Right?

“Lena,” Kara tried to get her attention but not even her eyes were left showing any more, just an endless mask of black nanobots. “Lena?! No, no, no!” Keeping a firm grip on Lena, Kara pressed her back to the ground with more force than she would have liked in an effort to stop her from taking to the sky.

She knew, just knew, that if she got away right then it would be over for her. “I am not losing you, Lena!  Don’t you dare quit on me!” She tried to pull bits of the suit off her but the nanobots more in control than Lena was and the suit started to fight back to fulfil its programming.

It was now or never!

Praying to Rao, Kara blew a gentle wave of freezing breath over Lena’s face. As the frigid air struck, she went still, her arms dropping to the ground at her sides with metallic thuds as the nanobots covering her face froze and fell away.

Rushing over, Alex dropped to her knees at Lena’s head. Crystals of ice formed on her uniform as Kara released another breath to still the nanobots sluggishly crawling up from beneath the edge of the armour in an attempt to take the place of their fallen mechanical brethren.

“Kara, you need to get her out of this tin can and blast the rest!”

Nodding, Kara wrapped her fingers around the neck of the suit and blasted it with more of her freeze breath as she pulled, peeling and shattering the now brittle armour aside to get to the precious cargo trapped within it.

Again and again, she breathed over Lena’s body, turning her with Alex’s help to cover every possible hiding place with a layer of frost. Only when the last nanobot had fallen away did she stop and watched, her breath catching as the cold fog of her breath drifted away.

Alex wiped the crystals of frost from her face and stripped away her glove to press her fingers to the side of Lena’s neck only to find that her fingers were too cold to feel anything. “Kara… huh-huh- damn it… heartbeat?” she managed to get out past the chattering of her teeth. Her shoulders relaxed, her whole body slumping, at her sister’s nod.

Kara gently scooped Lena up into her arms, lifting her clear of the remnants of the nanobots. “Lee?” She felt the shudder of Lena’s breath and watched as her dark lashes fluttered open to reveal the beauty of her green eyes as they focussed on her.

“Hey.”

“Hey,” Lena muttered weakly, trying to offer a reassuring smile through the pain. “Brain freeze sucks,” she grouched.

“Yeah, sorry but not sorry about that.”

“Alex…”

“Right here, Luthor. How are you feeling?”

“Pretty shitty. Like my top ten worst hangovers all rolled into one. Given the alternative though… I can’t complain too much.” Feeling exhausted from having spoken so much, Lena lay her head against Kara’s chest, grumbling slightly as her forehead bounced against the cold, hard material of the suit but the warm press of lips against her flesh soothed the hurt somewhat… even if the kiss had come, shockingly, from Alex.

“Director?”

“Yes, Brainy?”

“It appears that Ms Luthor’s ploy with the cameras worked wonders. I am getting reports in of calls to round up all known members of the Children of Liberty and Mr Lockwood’s assets are being frozen as we speak. Oh, and I have also found the location of Ms Breen.”

“Priorities Brainy,” Alex huffed slightly. “The ‘or’ was more important.”

“Really? I will make a note of that for future reference.”

“How about you do that after you give us her location?”

“Warehouse E13 at the docks. Unsurprisingly, it’s abandoned. Would a bit of originality kill them?”

“Maybe our next bad guy will have a secret volcano lair for you to track down.”

“Now that would be amazing! I look forward to that day!”

Rolling her eyes at Kara, Alex disconnected him. Brainy was a good man, brilliant… as he was a bit too fond of reminding everyone… but sometimes he was a bit too much like Winn dialled up to eleven and she had only just started to get a hang of Winn right before he had decided to dip his toe into the future and had run away with the Mon-El circus, better known as ‘The Legion’.

“How’s she doing?”

“Better than she was. Hey, Sawyer, Brainy managed to get a lead on Breen’s location. Do you think you and Batwoman can go check it out while we clean up here?”

“It would be our pleasure.”

“Maggie!” Alex softened her voice as her ex-fiancée looked back over her shoulder at her. “Be careful, okay? God knows what else those two cooked up.” A wave of nostalgia tinged with sadness washed over her as Maggie flashed a huge, cocky grin that crinkled her dark eyes to slits.

“You know me, Danvers—”

“Yes, I do. That’s why I’m reminding you to be careful,” Alex called after her as Maggie jogged away, gaining Kate’s attention on the way to her bike.

“Alex!”

Her head whipping around at the urgent tone of Kara’s voice, her body instinctively diving and rolling out of the way almost before her eyes and mind registered the blasts raining down on them from above.

Sweeping up the weapon Kara had thankfully forced her to discard as she dove for cover, Alex fired up at Lockwood but like well-trained pawns, the lexosuits dove into the line of fire to protect their quarterback.

And Alex knew she was mixing her games and sports metaphors but she was so sick and tired of Lockwood and his bullshit messing up her city that she didn’t care.

“Alex!?”

“Maggie, go! Take Breen down!” Alex yelled before taking advantage of the cover she’d gained and blasted a couple more of the suits to lay down some cover fire for Kara to bring Lena to her.

Kara barely had time to lay Lena down before she felt a wave of heat rushing towards her and saw the ball of fire from the falling suit reflected in Alex’s eye. Grabbing her sister, she yanked her down with one hand and swept her cape up with the other to create a protective barrier for their more fragile bodies.

“Kar,” Alex ducked down a little further and eyed the nondescript lump of metal buried in the side of the SUV inches from her head. “Damn! Okay, you need to get up there and do your thing. I’ll take care of Lena for you,” she promised as Kara’s brow crinkled and her blue gaze dropped to look at her.

Kara nodded. She didn’t want to leave Lena but she knew she had to and next to herself, there was no one she trusted more with her life than Alex. Jaw clenching, she weathered out the sting of another blow bouncing off the back of her head and locked her gaze with Alex, sharing a look and a plan of attack without either of them having to say a word.

“One… Two…”

At Alex’s silent three, Kara dipped her shoulder, creating room for her sister to fire off a rapid barrage of fire and then in a shot, Kara rocketed into the sky following them. The lexosuits barely had time to even adjust for Alex’s shots before Kara followed them up; rocketing out of the blasts with heavy blows as she forged a path through them towards Lockwood.

The lexosuits dropped in a steady, thunderous clang of metallic rain as they bounced off the sides of buildings and the ground, and crashed through abandoned vehicles.

With her attention locked upon Lena, Alex entrusted their protection to the Agents around her as they worked a worked as a cohesive unit and dealt with any suits Kara knocked to the ground before they could crawl off after fresh prey. Brainy relayed reports on Maggie and Kate’s progress as they made their journey through the streets of National City towards the docks, and he kept her informed of J’onn’s progress as he helped out, working alongside humans and aliens to rescue people trapped at a fire in a towering apartment block caused by one of the suits.

Lockwood looked around, anger and confusion warring in his mind as the protective shield of the lexosuits was quickly faded and then vanished. Amongst all his plans, the possibility that they would fall apart, leaving him on the edge of defeat never once occurred to him.

Until then…

As the figure of Supergirl filled his sights.

She cut an imposing and disgustingly false heroic sight with her golden hair and red cape flowing in the breeze and the cursed ‘S’ symbol on her chest. The tensing of her fists and jaw was his only warning before she rushed him, her body cutting through the sky with grace and lethal precision.

Somehow, though he had no idea how, he managed to draw his weapons and fired them without even realising that he wanted to do more than run away and hide from his fate. But as the beams of green and red streaking towards her reflected off his eye he grinned beneath the cover of his mask with feral anticipation of what was to come.

National City’s hero dead at his feet.

Driven made by pain or anger.

Laying waste to what she had sworn to protect.

And once she was gone the others would follow.

Driven off his world or rotting beneath its ground while he remained, Earth’s saviour!

Kara reared back, her flight halting instinctively as fear raced through her at the sight of the beams racing towards her. She knew what was coming even without feeling the effects of the Kryptonite.

And apparently, so did the suit that Lena had created to protect her.

A faint beep sounded out and suddenly, quicker than she could blink or think to do it for herself, the helmet she had removed sealed back up around her head a fraction of a second before the red and green struck her right in the middle of the emblem on her chest.

Kara waited for the pain to hit…

…For the anger to overwhelm her…

…And then she waited a moment longer…

…And longer still…

…An eternity that only lasted long enough for her heart to beat twice and for her eyes to drop to the still pristine and intact suit protecting her and long enough for Lockwood to scream in frustration as she looked at him and smirked.

“No!!!!!”

He tried to get away but he quickly found that without the lexosuits to run interference, his suit was no match for the abilities the sun gave her.

Kara reached through the wave of heat radiating from his suits poorly designed propulsion system and closed her fingers around it. The metal crumpled under the flex of her hand and like that his suit became as aerodynamic and capable of flight as a jumbo jet with no engines and he was left helplessly dangling high above the city with only her grip on his suit preventing him from becoming yet another crater in the ground so far below.

Alex carefully composed herself as the soft thud of Kara’s boots landing upon the ground behind her was proceeded by a metallic clatter and a pained cry as she let Lockwood fall to the ground helmet first.

“You won’t get away with this! I’ll get out and—”

“You’re wrong, Mr Lockwood,” picking him up, Kara yanked his helmet off, humanising the figure that had caused so much pain to her city to the crowds that had quickly started to gather. “After what you did you won’t be going anywhere other than to prison where you get to watch as this great city and its people… my family, rebuild everything you tried to destroy, better and stronger… and more importantly… _together_.”

Shoving him into the arms of the agents waiting to take him away, Kara acknowledged the cheers of the crowds as she made her way to Alex’s side.

“Is there anything else you need me for?”

“Nope,” Alex rolled her eyes as her sister bounced in excitement and only just restrained herself from taking off again. “Got word from Maggie and Batwoman while you were having fun up there and they got everything at the docks under control.”

“Breen?”

“She’s not a problem we’ll be having any more.”

Kara’s brow furrowed at Alex’s careful choice of words and tightly clenched jaw. “What happened?”

“Best guess? Cadmus,” she whispered quietly as though afraid saying it too loud would bring the wrath of Lillian Luthor upon them all. “Probably won’t know for sure even after we go over the remains of the place with a fine tooth comb but Maggie swears she saw a video playing and caught a glimpse of Lillian on it before they had to get out in a hurry.”

“Revenge for being used?”

“Or for the attempts on Lena’s life.”

Kara frowned even harder in confusion as she tried to make sense of Alex’s logic. “But—”

“I know, Lillian is sick and twisted. But, when she’s not actively trying to kill Lena, she is always coming back to try and recruit her so who knows what passes for a motherly instinct with her. Which means—”

“What?” Kara asked cautiously at the teasing look now in Alex’s dark eyes.

“Don’t go breaking her heart.”

“I couldn’t if I tried.”

“If you two are going to break into song, I’m walking home.”

“Lena, that’s not the next line.”

Lena smiled, if somewhat weakly, as Kara quite literally floated over the rubble-strewn ground to stand before her. Before she could say anything, Kara had unclasped her cape and draped it around her shoulders, enveloping her in the heavy fabric and the scent of her and only then did Lena realise that she was shivering in shock.

“Are you okay?”

“Thanks to you,” Lena assured her as she burrowed down further into the cape and the warmth of Kara’s loving gaze.

“And as soon as we get you back to the DEO I’ll be the judge of if you’re okay or not, okay? Ahh, no protesting allowed!”

“Should I call for my driver then?” Lena quirked her brow teasingly at Alex as the last remaining operational DEO vehicle sped away with a still protesting Lockwood secured within.

“That’s okay, I’ve got you.”

Lena decided she would deny it later or flat out sue if Alex mentioned it, but she let out a slightly startled squee as Kara easily swept her up into her arms, cape and all, and bore her up into the sky before she could protest… not that she really wanted to.

“That’s okay! I’ll just catch the next flying alien that passes by!” Alex grumbled good-naturedly as her sister apparently forgot all about her and zipped away.

“Need a lift, Director?”

“J’onn!” Grabbing onto her friend’s shoulder, Alex glared at him in rebuke for the snatch and grab off the street. “Don’t you dare tell anyone I squealed!” she hissed urgently.

“I wouldn’t dream of it,” J’onn chuckled.

“Your secret is safe with me too, Director. Though I would describe the noise you made more of a squee that a squeal. But it was impressively of a similar decibel and range to a creature found only on—”

Alex wasn’t sure if her colour was ranging more towards bright red or ghostly white as she disconnected Brainy from chattering in her ear but it seemed to amuse J’onn no end.

**********

After hours of being poked and prodded in more places than she was sure was strictly necessary, Lena was about ready to really threaten Alex with a whole army of lawyers for wrongful imprisonment and cruel and unusual torture. Though the latter was more from the far too narrow examination bed in the medical room than the poking and prodding.

“Seriously, could the DEO budget not run to a bit more padding or at least a bit more bed?” she grumbled as she struggled to find somewhere to put her arms that didn’t end with them slipping off the side of the bed.

“Quit whining, you’ll be out of here soon enough,” Alex chuckled, ignoring Lena’s best cold, ruthless CEO face as she drew another vial of blood. “How’s it looking in there, J’onn?”

“Ms Luthor is currently thinking of some very impressive ways of hurting you and destroying the bed she is laying up,” J’onn teased, trying to somewhat lighten the mood as, even though she had agreed to be scanned by him, Lena was not very receptive to the process even though he had assured her that he would be respectful.

Human minds were usually over busy, chattering things. Lena, on the other hand, was very adept at locking everything away, leaving her mind feeling like she was trying to scan a polished slab of marble and it had taken more effort than he was expecting to read anything but the strongest emotions and thoughts.

Fortunately… or unfortunately for his peace of mind, Kara chose that moment to walk in again and he got a very, _very_ clear view of Lena’s mind and everything she thought about Kara. And everything she wanted to do to Kara. And everything she wanted Kara to do to her!

“Okay, that was more than—” he blushed, “I think that’s enough of that. As long as everything checks out from Alex’s satisfaction you are free to go home and make use of your custom sized bed— I did not say that! And I will be leaving now!” Blushing even harder, he brushed past Kara and Alex and made his way out of the room.

“Lena Luthor, were you just thinking about doing my sister? No! Forget I asked that! If you answer I’ll have to have J’onn wipe my mind!”

“Well I plan on doing all sorts of things,” Lena drawled as she shimmied her way off the ridiculously narrow bed. “So, to save your poor innocent mind and ears, I suggest you let us out of here and then refrain from disturbing us for a couple of days at least,” she purred, crossing the room with a sway to her hips that had Kara’s jaw dropping and a glazed look crossing eyes that darkened with hunger to a shade that was almost midnight blue.

“I regret giving up alcohol,” Alex grouched as she tried to ignore the looks they were giving each other. “Fine! Get the hell out of here!”

“Kara, darling,” sliding her hand up the strong lines of Kara’s muscular arm, Lena teased her fingers across her stunning jawline to assure herself of Kara’s full attention a little higher than it currently was.

“Yes, Lee?”

“Take me home,” she purred enticingly.


	22. Epilogue

Lena huffed in quiet exasperation with herself. Reaching out, she hooked the lid of her laptop with a finger and closed it with a quiet snap as she leaned back in her office chair.

She just couldn’t concentrate on work. Not when a certain figure in blue and red was casting bright reflections off every surface in the room and distracting her. Really, she needed to stop procrastinating and get Jess to call for a decorator before she lost the ability to work entirely.

Shifting around in her chair, she moaned and whimpered softly as her thighs and lower abdomen protested in the most delicious way at the change in pressure. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Kara’s smooth flight across the sky falter and smirked as she dropped noticeably before recovering.

Served her sneaky alien girlfriend right for listening in.

Kara had been particularly intense the night before and well into the morning after being after an impromptu trip on some kind of mission on Earth 1 with Barry and Oliver.

Not that a night of loving had excused her for disappearing without warning on date night. Not in Kara’s eyes anyway.

As far as Lena was concerned there had been nothing to forgive. Kara was a hero and there would always be a need for her time and attention. Lena understood that and was happy as long as Kara was happy and came home.

Though, that wasn’t to say that she wasn’t a little miffed as Kara had promised… actually, pinkie promised, that she would let her go with her the next time she went hopping through the multiverse. And ‘it was too dangerous, Lee!’ just didn’t cut it when in the week Kara was gone, Alex had had to step in and rescue her from yet another attempted kidnapping. Which made two in the past seven months.

Seriously, Lena was beginning to wonder if she shouldn’t just give up on the idea of hosting or attending galas when they became targets so easily.

“Is everything okay, Ms Luthor? You seem a little… uncomfortable.”

Lena schooled her face into a professional mask to match the strong tone of Kara’s ‘hero’ voice but it lasted no longer than the time it took her to turn her chair around and see the unrepentant grin on Kara’s face as she hovered just off the edge of the balcony.

Seven months had flown by since Lockwood had been arrested and Lena was still no nearer getting Kara to give up her old suit completely. She said that the skirt held a special place in her heart as it was her first one and the skirt was more approachable than armour after everything that had happened.

So, being kind of fond of the way Kara’s legs looked in the skirt and unable to resist her pout, Lena had compromised somewhat.

The suit she was wearing, while looking like her old one, was actually a modified version of the suit she had made. When deployed, its first form was classic Supergirl chic unless Kara told it otherwise. Or, in emergencies, say for instance if it sensed Kryptonite, it could automatically turn into its armoured form complete with helmet to better protect her.

Which Lena had demonstrated, a little foolishly maybe in hindsight, by lobbing a small piece of Kryptonite at Kara in the control room of the DEO. Alex had been greatly unimpressed and had revoked her clearance for a week even after she found out that the radiation of the Kryptonite was so low level it barely registered.

It had worked though. The suit had deployed even before Kara had instinctively caught it. And she had had a chance to bond with the agents that had failed to scan her on the way in over coffee and then a more hearty drink at the alien bar.

Rising up from her chair with only the slightest of winces, Lena smoothed down the lines of her elegant pencil skirt and made her way out onto the balcony. She still had no real love for heights or flying but both were easier to take with the right company.

“Are you going to get over here and give me a kiss?” Lena questioned with a sharply raised brow as Kara remained where she was.

“Not still mad at me are you?”

“What are we talking about here? Being away for a week in a place you knew full well I wanted to see? For getting home and ripping my clothes off as soon as you walked through the door and traumatising Alex in the process? For leaving me so sore and exhausted that I missed my first meeting of the day and thinking of moving still makes me ache?”

Lena carefully hid a smile as Kara’s wonderfully expressive face ran through a journey that ended with her trapped between blushing and being all too pleased with herself.

“Or, is there something else you’ve done that you think I should be angry with you for even though I find it impossible to be angry with you for anything?”

“Erm, no, nothing new,” Kara quickly assured her.

She drifted closer to the edge of the balcony, mindful of the fact that they could be seen. If Supergirl was seen ravaging Lena Luthor when Kara Danvers was the one in a relationship with her that could bring up a hell of a lot of questions. But, even knowing that, Kara found it increasingly difficult to keep her hands to herself when they were in touching distance.

Sliding her hand across the waist-high wall of the balcony, she ran her little finger across Lena’s, a smile crossing her lips as Lena’s finger hooked hers.

“I’ve had you mad at me and I never want that again.”

With a soft frown, Lena studied Kara’s face and saw that she was looking at her hand. The same hand that had foolishly come in contact with her face and paid for it with breaks that she could no doubt see the effects of it she used her x-ray vision.

“Oh, Kara,” she sighed softly. “We both made huge mistakes for reasons that were both good and bad, and, on my part anyway, were based on hurt pride.” Reaching up she pressed the hand she had broken on Kara’s jaw over the place she had struck. “I lashed out in a way far beneath me because of pride. Trust me, you would know if I was angry with you,” she smirked wickedly. “Now, unless there is an elephant stuck in a tree waiting to be rescued, how about you come inside for a bit? I believe Jess brought some of those sticky buns you like just in case you popped by.”

Lena chuckled softly as Kara’s stomach let out a growl.

“Wait,” Kara faltered for a moment before landing on the balcony. “Elephants can’t climb trees… can they?”

Lena shrugged. “My girlfriend floats in her sleep, I wouldn’t put it past them,” she threw back over her shoulder. “Now, stay where you are just for one second.”

Kara stayed where she was, watching with interest as Lena walked over to her desk and pressed an elegant finger to the surface of her tablet. She felt the tingle of… _something_ … moving through the air and frowned in confusion. Not for one second did she feel the hint of fear or think ‘trap!’ but it did flash her briefly back to when Lena had black her from her office and left National City… Left her.

The pain she had felt from the shield Lena had thrown up had been nothing compared to the pain in Lena’s eyes or what she had tried again and found Lena’s office empty.

She had felt like her heart and soul had been cleaved in half that day but since then. Since Lena had returned… Rao. She had never been as happy and content as she was with Lena in her life and she never wanted that to end.

“There, all done, you can come in now.”

“What was... _Rao!_ ”

Lena grinned as Kara nearly leapt off the balcony as a ghostly but surprisingly vivid image of herself walked across the room and out of sight.

“Lee?”

“I had time to play while you were on Earth 1. Come, sit down, wipe the crinkle off your brow, and I’ll tell you all about it.” Leaving Kara to grumble under her breath about her crinkle, Lena popped her head around the door and let Jess know she had company.

“The food-loving kind?”

“You didn’t hear her stomach growl a minute ago?”

“Ahh, I thought maybe that was an earthquake or an escaped bear in your office,” Jess teased as she gathered together a plate mounded high with the sweet treats and followed her boss back into her office and placed the plate on the table before the couch. “Hi, Kara!” she spoke her name freely knowing they were alone enough to do so.

“Hi, Jess. A bear?”

Jess looked down pointedly as another growl rumbled from Kara’s ridiculously flat stomach.

“Fair point,” Kara grinned back sheepishly around cheeks already stuffed with food.

“I’ll leave you two alone,” Jess chuckled. “Would you like me to reschedule your next meeting, Ms Luthor?”

“If you would. And could you call Eve and see how the new trials are running.”

“Right away, Ms Luthor.”

“Still no luck getting her to use your first name, huh?”

“Nope,” Lena grumbled. “I think she’s trying to desensitize me to the Luthor name by overusing it.”

“Hmm, maybe I should try that in the bed—Mhmph.”

“Don’t even think about finishing that sentence,” Lena warned with a fierce glower into the blue eyes twinkling at her above the restraining hand she had placed over Kara’s mouth.

Cupping Lena’s hand closer, Kara pressed a kiss to her palm, delighting in the widening of her pupils and the darkening of her eyes.

Tugging gently on her hand, Kara encouraged her to sit and politely ignored Lena’s slight hiss of discomfort as she did so. She couldn’t help it if Lena had been insatiable and begged for more and more.

“Do you- erm- do you need a cushion to sit on?”

“Ass!” Lena swatted at Kara’s shoulder, nearly missing with how they were shaking with mirth. Laughing herself, Lena kicked off her shoes and pulled her legs up under her on the couch… carefully… and leaned against the solid, radiating warmth of her girlfriend’s side and accepted the sticky bun Kara held out to her and the arm that settled easily around her waist.

“So, what was all that anyway,” she waved her hand to indicate the rest of the office.

“Oh, yes! Well, as I said, I had time to play while you were gone. I’m not accusing you of anything, darling,” Lena quickly assured her before Kara felt the need to apologize needlessly again. “It’s based on the same scatter field technology but I added a twist. Anyone seeing into the office from the outside would have seen you walk across the office.”

“Why?”

“There’s a couple of applications but basically I just wanted to see if it could be done.”

“What kind of applications?”

“Security applications. If anyone was under threat of any kind it could be set up to show anything to protect the occupants. And…”

“And?” Kara encouraged, intrigued and more than a little aroused by the way Lena was biting her own lip.

“Well…” shimmying out of Kara’s arms and off the couch, Lena slowly walked away. “If anyone just happened to be spying on us right now, they wouldn’t be able to see what was really going on even if we stripped off all our clothes and you fucked me anywhere... On the couch, my desk…”

Kara swore she could feel the caress of Lena’s fingers against her skin as they ran across the top of her desk as enticingly as the heated look she was throwing her. “Or both?”

“Or so much more,” Lena purred seductively as Kara locked her office door and stalked towards her.

**********

As she walked out of the private bathroom that led off from Lena’s office, Kara stopped dead in her tracked and just stared at the sight before her as Lena pulled her blouse back on. It was such a normal, innocuous thing, but like everything else that Lena did, she made it seem so elegant and a moment worthy of being captured by the finest artist in any known world.

The way the sheer, pale fabric billowed around her. The way the muscles of her back worked smoothly under smooth, pale flesh. The silken fall of dark hair as she flicked it out from under her blouse, it was all done with the glow of the sun creating a halo around her body.

Running her hands across the slopes of her shoulders, Kara combed Lena’s hair back with her fingers, eliciting a husky hum of pleasure from her and a smile of thanks as she secured it into a high ponytail for her. It was only fair as she had completely wrecked the elaborate, sleek do she had been sporting before.

Dipping her head, Kara buried her nose against the fragrant curve of her throat and let her lips wander where they touched.

“Hmm.” Turning in Kara’s loose embrace, Lena ran her fingers through the soft heat radiating through the baby fine strands of hair at Kara’s nape. “I would kiss you but we’ve already found out that while my lipstick might be able to stand the rigours of space it is terrible at contact transfer and Alex still gives me dirty looks for the last time I let you go out without checking so we’ll both have to wait.”

Patting Kara on the shoulders, Lena turned and walked away, her fingers busy negotiating the tiny buttons on her blouse.

Grabbing the edge of her cape, Kara flicked her wrist and smirked with satisfaction as Lena’s stride was drawn to a halt and she looked down at the red cape wrapped around her slender wrist.

Brow arching, Lena looked back along the tautly stretched fabric until her eyes met the twinkling blue of Kara’s. “Really, Kara? Cape tricks?”

“Neither of us are leaving without a proper kiss, Ms Luthor.”

“Well then, you better get over here and claim your prize, Supergirl.”

Kara followed the insistent tug on her cape as Lena reeled her closer by it until they were back in each other’s arms again and their lips sought the others as though years had passed since they had last kissed and not minutes.

“Kara,” Lena panted breathlessly against her lips.

“Hmm?”

“Is it me or are we floating?”

“Oops,” grinning sheepishly, Kara returned them back to the floor. “You make me forget myself,” she chuckled. “I’d better get back on patrol before you make me forget myself again. Are you all clear for tonight?”

“Yes,” Lena huffed. “Even though you won’t tell me where we’re going or what I need to pack, Jess has cleared my schedule for the next two weeks and earned herself another hefty pay rise for doing so.”

“Thank you, Jess!”

“You’re welcome!”

“So, where are you taking me?”

“Nope! No seductive eyes! They won’t work! You’ll just have to wait and find out like a good girl.”

“Kara, darling. I should think by now you would know I’m anything but good.”

“True… You’re the best.” Smiling, Kara joined their lips together once more, breaking away only at the growing sounds of sirens from the streets below. “I eh—”

“Go. Save lives.”

“If it’s an elephant stuck in a tree I’ll take photos.”

Lena’s rich laugh filled Kara’s heart to overflowing and lingered long after she had left L-Corp behind. Kara couldn’t wait for her day to be over and for Alex and the DEO to take over her hero duties so she could start her holiday plans with Lena.

She was nervous.

No, excited.

But nervous too.

Two whole weeks together.

Starting with a visit to Earth 1 where she had got everyone’s solemn oath that there would be no emergencies of any kind while she picked up the very special items, a matching ring and bracelet, that she had left in Barry’s care. And from there, Cisco was going to drop them off at the Fortress of Solitude where Kara was really, really hoping she would be able to distract Lena away from exploring all the Kryptonian tech long enough so she could propose to her.

After that…

Well, it was two whole weeks that Kara was hoping would lead to a lifetime together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, there it is, or was, my first foray into the Supercorp fandom. One that went nowhere near where my original idea was supposed to but I enjoyed it and I hope you did too :)
> 
> A huge thank you to everyone that read it, and those that left comments and kudos :)


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